A Push in the Right Direction
by Sapphira603
Summary: When it becomes clear that Link is unmotivated, Malon agrees to accompany him to deliver the Spiritual Stones. Now, trapped in a dangerous future, Link must juggle responsibility and the safety of his friend.
1. Little Kokiri butt

"We have a problem here," Navi says sternly. I only half-hear her as I lay stretched out in the straw. I have been snoozing for the past hour or so, and I'm in no mood to find something else to do. 

But then Navi starts to fly back and forth in front of my face. I can feel the breeze that she creates, and her glow permeates my eyelids. She also makes a strange noise as she moves, which I can only describe as "sparkly," and the combination of these three characteristics of her movement are too distracting; I can't pretend to be asleep any more.

"What's the problem, Navi?" I mumble. She is floating directly in front of my face, which means that I have to be painfully cross-eyed to see her. This fairy has already caused me much suffering since we first met. Not only did she introduce herself by waking me up, but most of her advice in the Great Deku Tree had been completely unnecessary (just because my house has a curtain over the entrance does _not _mean that I don't know how to open a door). And now, it seems as if my serious need for rest is causing another problem.

My fairy snorts with annoyance. "The problem, Link, is that Princess Zelda wants you to find the other two Spiritual Stones, and you've spent the last three days lazing around this ranch!" She sighs angrily. "You need to buck up, kid! The Great Deku Tree sent me to aid you on your quest, and I'm can't aid you on a quest if you aren't _on one!"_

Clearly, she's angry. Part of me knows that she's right; Princess Zelda basically has me under orders to get the two other stones, and the Great Deku Tree had sent me on this errand as well (both of them want me to stop this Ganondorf guy). And I've been just hanging out at the ranch for a few days, doing almost nothing. Of course, I don't consider napping to be nothing.

But I like the ranch. Lon Lon Ranch is secluded enough that I feel right at home. Just walking through the market at Hyrule Castle Town had been almost more than I could handle, considering that I grew up in a forest where by the time I was eight, I knew everyone incredibly well. The idea of "strangers" is a frightening one. That's why I'm so glad that only three people live and work on the ranch. There are plenty of animals, but I'm not too concerned with making friends with animals. And I like the people on the ranch; because of my experiences with Mido, I know that there will always be people who I won't get along with.

First, there's Talon, the ranch owner. He loves it when I played his stupid "super cucco" game; I play it just to humor him. I wasn't a big spender in Kokiri Forest, so I don't know what to do with all the rupees I found in the Great Deku Tree and the Lost Woods (Navi _had _been happy that I had at least visited Saria after I met Zelda). And I'm sure that Talon could be the most productive man in Hyrule if he didn't fall asleep so easily. And Navi thinks _I'm _bad…

Then, there's Ingo, the ranch hand. I admire him a lot, mostly for his self-control. He's not especially attractive, nice, or skilled, but if I were in his place, I would have totally gone nuts on Talon's ass ages ago. Ingo does almost all the work on the ranch, and while he might not deserve to _own _the ranch, he certainly should have get paid a lot more. I think that it might be best for him to put his wages toward some sort of anger management, though.

And finally, there's Malon, Talon's daughter. She already helped me to get into the castle those few days ago, and I was surprised to find her again at the ranch (even though I _knew _she lives here). I was expecting Hyrule to be incredibly vast, but I somehow found the ranch the day after I first met Malon. I thought it was going to take a few weeks.

And so I've been spending a few days just lounging around, which is all right with Talon. So long as I don't get in Ingo's way, Talon doesn't mind me resting in the loft or playing with Malon. Playing with Malon isn't as fun as I thought it would be. Sometimes, I upset the cuccos, and Malon has to calm them all down before she can get bandages for my battle wounds. Other times, I try to get her to pretend to be a damsel in distress so I can pretend to save her, and she refuses. "I can take care of myself, Fairy Boy," she'll tell me, and she sounds pretty stern for a ten-year-old.

"Are you listening to me?" Navi asks incredulously, and I blush and sigh.

"No," I admit sullenly.

"Ugh!" she exclaims. "Look, get off of your little Kokiri butt so we can go to Kakariko Village and go up Death Mountain!"

I roll my eyes and get up. Navi is smirking triumphantly as I make my way down the ladder from the loft, but I smirk right back. "I'm getting off my little Kokiri butt," I say snidely," so I can go play with Malon."

Navi's glow changes from blue to purple as she grows angry. "You've got a job to do, mister!" she shouts shrilly, and it doesn't occur to me that she can do anything to force me into a role that I don't want.

Honestly, I was been wishing for a fairy, not a completely different life.

Soon, I find my new friend as she walks out of the house, a thick pair of work gloves in her hands.

"Sorry, Fairy Boy," Malon says cheerfully. "I can't play right now."

I can't possibly understand how she can be cheerful when she isn't able to hang out with me. I don't consider myself boring by any means, and there aren't many other fun things at the ranch. "Uh, really? Are you sure?" I ask lamely.

She giggles. All the girls I know giggle like that. "Yes, I'm sure," she says. "Dad asked for my help mucking the stable today, so…I'm going to muck the stables."

She doesn't sound horrified or disappointed in the least. I know what mucking the stables involves, since Ingo was complaining about it yesterday, and I asked him to explain it. And so I can't understand how Malon can have a smile on her face as she informs me that she is going to ditch me for the grossest thing I have ever heard of.

I'm going to let this go. "Come on, Malon," I whine. "Mucking the stables is gross, right? Wouldn't you rather play tag or something? Or we could play 'Hero and Princess' or something…"

She grimaces. "Fairy Boy, you know I hate playing 'Hero and Princess,'" she reminds me. She shakes her head and smiles again. "Tag would be fun, but I have to help Dad and Mr. Ingo. I can't just tell Dad that I'm going to play tag instead." Before I can ask her why she can't, she shocks me by adding, "Besides, mucking the stables might not be the most fun in the world, but it does feel really good when you finish it."

"See, Link?" Navi asks in a sickly-sweet, "I-told-you-so" voice. "Unlike you, Malon isn't shirking her responsibilities."

Before I can defend myself by pointing out that Malon isn't expected to work every single day, my farm girl friend frowns at me. "Link, is this true?" I wince at the use of my name; she uses the nickname she made for me so often that she only uses my real name when she's very serious. When I don't answer, she turns to Navi and asks what's going on.

Navi explains to her briefly about the Great Deku Tree and Princess Zelda, and Malon keeps frowning. Finally, she turns to me and shakes her head. "Link, you had a guardian spirit and a princess order you to save Hyrule, and you're just goofing around the ranch," she says sadly. "I really like playing and all, but you've got to go do what you have to. It's your job!"

"It's not a job," I retort. I am terrible at defending myself verbally. "I don't get paid." Malon crosses her arms and glances angrily at my very full wallet. "I mean, I can keep what I find," I add hastily.

"Link, you're awesome and stuff, and I like being friends," Malon says slowly, "but you've got responsibilities! Do I have to ask Dad to kick you off the ranch until you get these things done?"

I stiffen at the threat. Is my fellow ten-year-old this serious about making me follow through with my responsibilities? "No!" I shout at her, and I know I'm acting childish. "Fine, I'll go. But I don't want to!"

"Good, Fairy Boy," she says, her face softening. I'm happy to her the silliness enter her voice again. "Now, be careful! You have to come back in one piece, or I'll have to beat you up!"

I blink. "I can come back and visit?"

"Of course you can, silly," she says, rolling her eyes. "You just need to go do your job first, you dense little boy."

* * *

This chapter has been rewritten in the present tense. The first reason for this change is that I just wrote an entire story in the present tense, and I am now _really _used to writing in the present. The second (and not-so-cheap) reason for the change is that the present tense just works better. It's easier to express Link's age, as well as his thoughts with this tense. This chapter is still a little bland because I simply changed the tense and not the content, but the rest of the story should be more colorful. 


	2. The time with the bombs

So I have my job, just as Malon told me to do. I went to Goron City and Dodongo Cavern. I've a Spiritual Stone to my collection, and I also got the greatest invention ever: bombs. I never thought that weapons could be this cool, although Navi doesn't seem so amused. She considers bombs to be highly dangerous weapons, and she insists that I only use them as a last resort. I plan on bombing random walls, and I think Navi was disappointed that I had the right idea at the top of Death Mountain. If I hadn't been messing around with explosives, I wouldn't have found the Great Fairy.

Once I was back in Kakariko Village, though, I found myself idling. There was a woman in the village who seemed more than happy to let me stay with her, and I spent a few days doing almost nothing. Since I have some weapons, I was asked by the villagers to take care of some sort of pest problem. The spiders that I had found in the Great Deku Tree and Dodongo's Cavern are a serious problem in Kakariko, and they had even been keeping a little kid up at night. I swear, I'm going to kill every stupid spider that I can find; those spiders give me a few nightmares.

Navi keeps sighing at me to get going on the last Spiritual Stone, but since I don't have a clue of where it is, I am seriously lacking the motivation to find it. When I had been told to look for the stones, Impa pointed me in the direction of the Goron's Ruby. Now, I have no idea where to find the last stone, whatever it is.

After a week or so, I wore out my welcome and usefulness in Kakariko. After finding some woman's cuccos, I stupidly thought that the birds might want to play with me. Malon wasn't around to play Princess to my Hero, but I figured I could pretend that the cuccos were evil. This turned out to be a bad idea, since it landed me in bed for a day, completely covered in bandages. And the cucco lady was pretty angry at me, too.

So now I find myself trudging back to the ranch. I can't wait to show Malon my new sword technique, as well as my new favorite toy, and I'm also planning out how I'm going to tell her the heroic tale of fighting King Dodongo and almost burning the soles off of my boots. I hope that she's proud of me for "doing my job," as she had said, and that maybe she'll let me spend a few days on the ranch again. Of course, it's Talon's decision, not hers, so I'll just have to convince him that I need the break. Who wouldn't need a break?

The ranch looks no different than it had when I had left it a month ago. The familiar sight is comforting to me, since I've only been back to my real house once since I left Kokiri Forest. I'm tired of traveling to new places; the ranch is somewhere I've been before, and somewhere I _know. _I don't feel nervous as I walk into the courtyard as I am when I'm anywhere else.

I smiles as I catch sight of Malon chasing Epona outside of the corral; clearly, Malon isn't nearly as fast as the horse, but Epona seems to be running more slowly so that the chase is fun. I whistle Epona's song quite shrilly, hoping that the ocarina won't have to be my only method of effective music-making; Malon can call Epona by singing the song, and I see no reason for my whistling to be any different. Of course, since I am so darn lucky, the whistle has no effect on the little horse at all. Instead, Malon's head turns to my general direction, and she smiles widely.

"Hey, Fairy Boy!" she shouts, and she leaves Epona to trot around aimlessly as she rushes over to me. I'm shocked and uncomfortable as she pulls me into a tight hug. Another ten-year-old I had met at Kakariko had educated me about the nature of girls and cooties, and I know now that cooties are highly contagious by touch. But when she asks, "Aren't you gonna hug me back?" I give in, hoping that my immune system is strong enough to fight the inevitable cootie infection. She's Malon after all; I'm not hugging some prissy little girl. I note, though, that a prissy little girl would probably play "Hero and Princess."

Finally, her arms release me, and the air blows quietly between us. I grin at her, and I feel rather stupid, as if I should already have some sort of planned way to talk to her. "Uh," I begin brilliantly, "I'm finished now." I hear Navi growl with rage from underneath my hat. But I am sticking to my story. I did what I left to do.

"That's great, Fairy Boy!" Malon says happily. "See? Don't you feel satisfied now that you're finished?"

I pause to think about this. Do I really feel happy that I cleared out the cavern? Well, what exactly did this whole little trip involve? I was nearly blown up several hundred times, and I narrowly missed being charred to death by lava on many occasions. I was chased around by living statues, almost crushed by falling rocks, and both chased and almost crushed by a giant dodongo. Sure, I now have bombs, which I love regardless of how many times they've nearly killed me, as well as magic, but do I really feel better now that I've gotten things over with?

"Not really," I admit, and Malon's faces falls a bit, as if she were hoping for me to have learned some sort of lesson. Navi scoffs as she sits on my hair. "But I did it, and I'm back in one piece," I point out, and Malon nods quickly.

"That's true," she says as she smiles again, brightening up the colors that I see. "Now, I've still got some free time, so let's go up to the loft!" She grabs me by the upper arm and begins to pull me in the direction of the barn. "I want you to tell me _everything _that happened!"

"Whoa, what do you mean by still having free time?" I ask as she drags me up the ladder. Malon's day had always consisted of free time as far as I knew. I mean, there was that one time that Talon asked her to muck the stables, but that was out of the ordinary.

She sits abruptly on a pile of hay and looks at me quizzically. "What do you mean, Fairy Boy? Dad said I could play with Epona until after lunch, so you need to tell me everything before lunch because I can't very well be wondering what happens next when –"

"You mean you're working after lunch?"

"Uh, _yes_." She giggles nervously. "Is something wrong with that?"

"Well, no." There really isn't anything wrong with it, and I don't know why I'm giving her such a hard time about it. "It's just that you weren't working regularly when I left, so I'm just a little surprised."

She nods in understanding. "Yeah, I know. But Dad hurt his ankle soon after you left, and I had to take over some of Mr. Ingo's jobs so Mr. Ingo could take over Dad's." She smiles again. "But I don't mind working. It was boring right after you left, and working gives me things to do!"

"You won't be bored anymore!" I remind her. "I'm back, and we can play games and stuff."

"I've still got to work," she points out. "Besides, I'm still waiting for your exciting story. Out with it, Fairy Boy."

And out it comes. Kakariko Village, Goron City, Dodongo's Cavern, and Death Mountain. Spiders, Gorons, dinosaurs, and fairies. The time when I couldn't solve the simple puzzle of lighting torches, and the time where I would have been blown up into little Link-pieces if Navi hadn't cried out in warning. My reluctant companion slinks out of my hat at this point to mutter that it was nothing.

Malon listens quietly, mouth smiling and eyes wide, as I finish the recap. Is she really interested in this stuff? I mean, I almost got killed a thousand times, and she finds this all incredibly exciting. But before I can make the seriousness of my adventure clear to my friend, she is hurrying off to help Talon fix a fence.

Navi, who returned to her green abode for the rest of the story, is now back out and floating around. "You're an idiot," she tells me matter-of-factly. I blink, but she's probably right.

"Why do you say that now?"

"Well, do you plan on just sitting around here, doing nothing?"

"Uh, yeah."

This clearly was the expected answer. "It's just that you're going to be really bored now that Malon has things to do." I don't respond, but Navi's absolutely right. "And so either you're going to be bored beyond belief, or you're going to get kicked out."

"Where does _that _logic come from?" She just totally pulled that out of her little fairy ass.

I can hear the smirking in her voice. "If you have nothing to do, you're going to be wandering around the ranch, getting in the way of everyone. If you get in the way of anyone who's trying to work, you'll get kicked out. Since everyone's working, you're _bound _to get in the way of one of them and get kicked out."

Damn.

And she's absolutely right, too. In the next couple of days, I try to keep my activity to a minimum, but it's to no avail. It's easy to stay out of Ingo's way, since getting on his nerves is a bad idea on any occasion. Talon is asleep half of the time, but when he's not, it's impossible to cross his path without him expressing distaste in my laziness. And Malon can hardly ever play anymore. She gets free time before lunch and after dinner, but I must have the shortest attention span in the world. I can't seem to sit around and do nothing while I wait for her to finish work.

Out of sheer boredom one night, I was messing around and playing on my ocarina. I decided to practice some of the tunes I had learned early on after leaving the forest, namely Zelda's lullaby and Saria's song. Epona's song and the Sun's song had effects that were a little undesired at the time and place (since I didn't want to upset Epona, and I also didn't want it to be morning before I had a good night of sleep). After playing Saria's song, though, I could hear her voice. She said something about Zoras or something, and Navi simply sighed. "I _knew _it was there," she said, and it wasn't until the next day that she told me that she meant the Spiritual Stone of Water. I guess she had wanted me to try and figure it out for myself.

Now, I know where to go next, but even with the ranch descending into a state of horrible dullness, I still don't want to leave. I enjoy the security of the barn too much, I guess. And it helps that there are no monsters that will sneak up on me while I sleep. Navi agrees that it's nice to be able to sleep the entire night instead of taking turns keeping watch.

Malon has noticed, though, that I seem to be hanging around with nothing to do. "Fairy Boy, don't you have anywhere to go? Like a house or something? I mean, if you want to stay here, I can talk to Dad, since now you're done with your job…thing."

Before I can open my mouth to thank her, Navi pops out of my hat. "He's _not _done with his job-thing," she hisses.

All of a sudden, I'm facing a rather angry young girl. "Link, I thought you said you were done!"

"Well, uh, I never said that."

"Yes, you did! You said that you were glad to be done with the cavern-thing!"

Ooops. I did say that. "I _was _done with the cavern," I point out. "I just wasn't done with, you know, _everything_, and I didn't know where to go next or anything."

She sighs angrily. "Do you know where to go next _now?"_

"Um…yeah," I answer quietly.

"Sit down, Link." I am suddenly reminded of Princess Zelda, who seemed much older than her ten years. I sit on the grass and look up at my friend. "People are depending on you, it seems. You've already helped the great tree thing, and now you've helped the Gorons. I'm willing to bet you five games of 'Hero and Princess' that the Zoras will need you to help them as well." She must be really sure of that; she _hates _that game quite a bit. "And you're capable of helping them!" she cries. "You've got to do what you're supposed to do because these people are depending on you, okay?"

"Fine, fine," I reply with my glorious wit. "I'll head out tomorrow, all right?"

Malon drops to the ground next to me and sighs. "All right." She pauses and gazes up at the stars. I watch her, knowing that she is looking at a beautiful and glorious night sky. "Just be careful, all right? I want you back in one piece to tell me about what happens."

"No problem," I reply. I stand up and dust myself off, but Malon doesn't budge. I wish her a good night and head to the loft. I have to be up early tomorrow to get to wherever the Zora live.

* * *

I know that this chapter is in the present tense, not the past tense! I've decided that the past tense doesn't work so well with this story, and I've gone back and edited the previous chapter. From now on, the story will be in present tense, and I already think that it sounds better. So there.


	3. Squishy night terrors

Everything is squishy. It's dark and squishy. I can't breathe, I can't breathe, I can't breathe. The stench is cloying, and I have to concentrate on not letting my stomach contents run wild and free. Oh Goddesses, I can't breathe. Navi comes out of my hat, and she sounds distant and distorted as she floats close to the squishy wall. Her soft glow seems fainter than usual, but it's strong enough to illuminate the squishy wall, and I see the red veins of shiny flesh. And suddenly, an army of jellyfish advance on me, and I can't find my boomerang. I can't breathe at all.

"Eeeeaaagh!" I shout as I awaken violently. My frightened cry echoes along the corridors of Zora's Domain, and I can hear a Zora sentry, who is standing watch down the hall, comment to his companion that he's going to check on me. I burn with shame; I've never woken from a nightmare shouting before, and now this Zora is going to treat me like I'm ten or something. Well, it doesn't matter that I _am _ten. The point is that anyone should have night terrors after what I had just experienced.

Malon had been going on about how these people needed my help, but the gratitude that the Gorons had displayed had been much more apparent. The Zoras had expected me to help them find Ruto because, well, that was what the Zoras were doing that day. Each Zora was as capable of saving Ruto as I was, and it just so happened that I, the land creature, had found the message in a bottle while diving.

And then came the ultimate slap in the face. As soon as I allow myself to be swallowed by a gigantic fish, the bratty little Princess Ruto doesn't even want any help. No, she didn't just refuse help; she denied ever asking for it! And if I ever have to carry her around again, I think I'd rather let myself be electrocuted by a bunch of jellyfish.

But I guess the worst part was the atmosphere afterwards. Ruto finally admitted that I was awesome (let's face it: I'm cool), but she suddenly wanted to keep all the details of the rescue a secret from her dad. Why would he be upset about her giving me the Zora's Sapphire? Well, I don't know if that matters so much. But since the details are all hush-hush, the rest of the Zoras think that I just walked into Jabu-freaking-Jabu, found Ruto as she was lost in some corridor, and then led her out. They have no idea of what I endured to save their princess.

The Zora sentry pushes aside the curtain that serves as my door. "Is everything all right, kid?"

"Yeah," I reply. "Everything's fine." I can't think of an excuse for my shout that sounds better than, "I had a nightmare," so I say nothing. I simply stare at him until he figures out that the conversation is over now. He turns, and I hear the splashing of water grow distant as he walks back down the hall.

Navi woke up when I did, and she's floating around, causing the walls to glow with an eerie and mystical light. She's been unnaturally quiet since we left Jabu-Jabu's internal organs behind, and I suspect that she found the experience as unnerving as I did. I don't plan to be a vegetarian, but I think fish are definitely out of my diet from now on.

The next day, I'm feeling a little better. The Zoras offer me nothing in the way of provisions, as the Gorons had before, and I leave only with a Spiritual Stone and a new nightmare. I dodge the projectiles from the octoroks as I make my way back down the river. I don't have to worry about killing the stupid things until I make camp tonight. I doubt I can make it to the ranch before Talon locks the gates. I pick up the pace anyway; just in case I can make it, I'd rather be there than on the riverbank. Hyrule Field is not an option for camping out. Once, I tried that, and I woke up to Navi screaming at me as ten stalchildren rattled towards me as I lay vulnerably on the cold ground.

Navi is still quiet as we walk down the sunny path (I walk, and she flies). She usually takes some time to nag me even after I've followed her advice, and I realize that I miss her constant talking. "Uh, Navi, are you okay?" I ask timidly.

At first I think she's ignored me, since she doesn't answer right away. At a time when I would have once felt triumphant, I instead feel hurt. But before I can comment on how maybe it's a good thing that she's quiet for once, she speaks. "Yeah, I think so." She sighs her little fairy sigh. "I just feel a little shaken up, that's all."

"Slimy," I mumble to myself as the memories of being inside of an aquatic being haunt me.

"Squishy," Navi adds with a shudder in her voice. I'm relieved to know that this shared experience is teaching us how to be nice to each other. "Let's hurry, though," she says. "I think if we go a little faster, we can make it to the ranch before it closes."

She's wrong, though, and for once, neither of us gets upset with the other. She's not upset with me ("Link you _could _have walked _faster, _you know!"), and I'm not peeved at her ("'We can make it to the ranch before it closes!' _Not!")_. Instead, we are both disappointed and nervous. In a few minutes, the stalchildren will come out to play, and we're a good hour from any sort of civilization other than Lon Lon.

Navi and I hardly have time to discuss options. We're both still trying to process the fact that the ranch is indeed closed, and we can't get in. Neither of us wants to bolt across the field with skeletons chasing after us; we've been rushing all day, and we're tired. I spend some of our precious few moments arguing with Navi about values, since breaking in seems to be against her morals. When she finally asks me just how I plan to sneak in, since we both know that Lon Lon Ranch has several safeguards against buglers, I abandon that idea. But the sun has already set, and the twilight is upon us, and at any minute now, I'm going to hear the sound of the ground breaking behind me.

"Fairy Boy?" calls out a frightened voice. "Is that you?"

My savior arrives in the form of Malon, who is coming up to the wrought-iron gate where my fairy and I have been panicking for the past few minutes. When Navi and I process the situation, we immediately press up against the cold bars. "Malon, thank Din!" I hiss. "Oh man, can you let us in? We tried to get here before your dad locked up, we swear!"

But she's already unlocking the gate. "Shut up, Fairy Boy! You'll get the attention of those stalchildren over there!" And as the gate opens, I turn around and stifle a shout as I see a group of stalchildren milling about a short distance away from the entrance. But before I can react in either a cowardly or heroic manner, Malon grabs me by the back of my shirt and pulls me across the gateway. Navi had already been smart enough to fly into the ranch.

As I babble incoherently to Malon, she just stares at me blankly, but patiently. When I pause to take a deep breath, Malon senses my intention to continue ranting, and she speaks first. "Whoa, whoa, stop. You know, Navi could have just flown over the gate and banged on the window or something. Didn't you guys think of that?" Our silence is a good enough answer for her. She giggles softly. "Well, it's a good thing that I had forgotten that Dad already locked up. Otherwise, you two would have been in a pickle there."

I still can't believe Navi and I didn't think of the fact that Navi has wings and can fly. But I think that it might have been our frazzled emotional states or something like that. Navi hasn't said a word since right before Malon let us into the ranch, and I think that she needs a break more than I do.

Malon, Talon, and Ingo are about to sit down to dinner, and Malon insists that I come and eat with them. I want nothing more than to throw myself into the hay and fall into the deepest sleep imaginable, but my stomach protests loudly as I'm fumbling for an excuse. To be fair, I didn't stop for lunch today, and a meal wouldn't hurt. I didn't eat mostly because I wanted to get to the ranch so badly, but partly because the Zoras hadn't given me any more food supplies. But maybe that was a good thing, since if they had given me food, it would have been fish. I can't take any more fish.

Talon and Ingo seem interested in hearing about my journey into the belly of the whale, but the details won't seem to come out of my mouth easily. I stutter a little bit and explain that Zora's Domain is pretty cold, actually, and that I didn't get such a great night's sleep.

"Aw, come on, boy!" Ingo says with a smile. "All you can say is it's cold? That's mighty boring."

Talon chuckles. "I'd think that a young boy with a vivid imagination could come up with something a little more detailed than that, Link!" He grins at me from across the table. "But I'm sure you can wow us with details in the morning, right?"

I nod wearily. "Sure, that works." I pick at the meal in front of me; thinking about Jabu-squishy-Jabu has stolen away whatever appetite I had moments ago. Malon eyes me with a worried expression on her face, and her eyes flick nervously to my hat. She knows that Navi never strays far from me, and since the fairy isn't floating around the table, she's hiding in my hat. I can feel Navi curled up in a small ball in my hair, and I can't tell if she's just upset, or if she's sleeping.

Soon, half of a meal sticks to the sides of my stomach, and I stumble out of the house and into the barn. I struggle to climb the ladder, and when I finally arrive at my destination, the loft, I sink into the soft hay, and the Goddesses take pity on me. Exhaustion from the past three days allows me to fall unconscious, and I don't relive the electricity and flesh.

I hardly wake up feeling refreshed, but I have slept through the night comfortably for the first time in days. I'm surprised to look out the window and see that it's still early. Early for me, of course, is late for Talon, Ingo, and Malon; I can see Ingo working near the corral, and he's already covered in dirt from head to toe. Talon is trying to tame a relatively rebellious colt, and Malon is nowhere in sight.

"Good morning, Link," says a quiet voice, and I turn to see Navi float down from a little ledge. When she gets close enough, I can see that she's still weary, but she seems a little happier, and her wings aren't dropping anymore. She's still a far cry from the impatient and vivacious little sprite who woke me up and whined and wheedled until I went to talk to the Great Deku Tree, but I smile at the improvement.

"Good morning, Navi," I reply. "Did you sleep okay?"

"Yeah." She sighs. "For once. Did you?"

I nod. "For once." My stomach rumbles and interrupts our small conversation, and I resolve to find Malon and beg some food off of her. I drop down from the loft to the barn, and find myself face to face with the object of my incredibly short search. Malon drops her milk pail in surprise, and neither of us grabs it in time. I feel stupid and guilty as it hits the ground and falls over.

"Don't worry," Malon says, her voice a little strained. "It's empty." Somehow, this makes me feel a little worse. Sure, it was empty, but it might not have been.

"Sorry," I mumble as I bend down to get the pail. "How are you this morning, aside from this?" I ask, trying to be considerate.

She sighs heavily. "I'm all right, I guess. But come on, I'll get you something to eat. You barely ate last night, and you must be hungry."

We step out of the dim light of the barn into the brighter light of the late morning. "Don't you have work to do?" I ask tentatively. "Talon won't be mad at you if you feed me, right?"

She laughs lightly. "I do have work to do, but Dad says it's all right if I spend some time with you. You seemed so…worn out last night, I suppose, and Dad's worried about you."

I feel a little sick and uncomfortable. "He shouldn't worry. I'm all right, so there's no problem."

"Sure, Fairy Boy." She opens the door to the house and looks back at me with an annoyed expression across her face. "I'm sure everything's just fine."

I shut the door behind me and sit down at the kitchen table while she fishes through the icebox. "Why are you so upset?" I ask.

She lights the stove, which is quite a task, since she's only just tall enough to look over it, and then breaks a few eggs into a pan. "I'm not upset," she says, and for a moment, I want to tell her that she's the worst liar I've ever met. But she knows that I know she _is _upset. "I'm just worried, that's all. Navi's clearly upset about something, since she hasn't spoken all morning."

"I'm all right, Malon," replies my companion from under my hat. "I'm just a little tired, still."

Malon finishes cooking the eggs, and soon, I'm practically inhaling them as Malon sits beside me, watching me. "What happened, Link?" she asks. My resolve finally wavers. She's my friend after all.

Little by little, she learns about the indifference of the Zoras, and the unexpectedly frightening atmosphere of the Domain itself. I try to leave out some of the more graphic descriptions of Jabu-Jabu's interior, but she pulls it all out of me. Navi ends my quiet retelling by whispering, "It was awful," as if speaking any louder might make my words come to life and haunt us even more.

Malon's eyes are wide. "Wow," she says breathlessly. "That sounds scary, but incredible!"

"Are you mad?" Navi asks incredulously. "It was horrible! It was disgusting! I want to dig a little hole in the ground and live there forever." Instead, she just dives back into my hat. I feel her trembling on my head.

"Malon," I say gently. "The Great Deku Tree was pretty scary, you know. I'm not fond of spiders, and I was getting caught in webs while trying to defend myself. And as much as I love explosives, the cavern wasn't the most fun I've ever had. But being inside of a giant fish while trying to rescue an ungrateful princess is _not _an experience that I would wish on _anyone._" I shudder involuntarily. "I just want to go home. Or even stay here for good. I'm just done with these nightmares."

Malon is silent for a few moments. She sighs. "Well, you should at least go see Princess Zelda, okay? Just give her the stones, like she asked you." She smiles sympathetically at me, and I'm a little annoyed that she's showing me pity. "Look, if it'll make you feel better, I'll go with you. Dad is going to market tomorrow anyway, so we can get a ride with him and go to the castle."

I consider this for a moment. Until Malon mentioned it, I had forgotten the reason I was getting these stones in the first place. She's right about this being it; I've finished what I set out to do, and after I give Zelda the stones, I'm done. And I wouldn't mind living on the ranch. I could hang out with Malon every day. And maybe I'd help out with some of the work. I want to get all this over with all of a sudden.

"Let's go today," I say loudly, and Malon looks startled. "If we leave now, we can be home well before dark," I point out.

My friend looks as if she's about to protest, but then she nods. "I don't have any more work to do today," she admits. "Dad just wanted me to help out until you were awake. Let me just go tell Dad where we're going."

She leaves the door open as she walks outside, and I smile. Having Malon along will definitely make me feel better. I guess Navi and I need some support, especially if Malon, not Navi, is the one who has to point me in the right direction. And of course the idea of living on the ranch remains at the forefront of my mind. I'm excited about seeing Zelda again so I can end this errand that's been blown out of proportion.

* * *

"I shall call him Squishy, and he shall be mine. He shall be my Squishy." Uh, I don't remember the exact quotation.


	4. Darkest of days

It seems to be getting dark earlier than usual as Malon and I make our way across Hyrule Field, and my friend isn't very pleased about it. "Dad's not going to be happy," she says solemnly. She glances to the sky for the millionth time, and I also gaze warily at the gray sky and dark clouds that have been forming out of nowhere. "He said he had a feeling we'd get some bad weather."

I feel a little guilty; Talon hadn't wanted Malon coming with me. In fact, he didn't even want _me_ going to market. "We can go tomorrow," he told us. "That way, if the weather turns sour, I can keep an eye on you." I tried to reassure him that we'd be okay; I know people at market that would let us stay with them if we needed shelter. Besides, when we left the ranch, the sun was still shining brightly over the waves of grass.

Navi is floating alongside me nervously, as if she's ready to hand over the stones and run…or fly (whatever she does). I feel jittery as well; after the effort it took to get these stones, I'm expecting our plans to go awry. I don't want them to, but I just _know _they will. And it's getting so dark so quickly, too.

"Link, as soon as we get to town, we're going to make sure we have a place to stay," Malon says in a strained voice. "And then we can see about getting these stones to Princess Zelda." She looks a little scared, too. "But let's at least find somewhere to stay first so we can be safe."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," I say, but I'm not looking at her, and I'm suddenly not very concerned about what we're going to do in market. Now, I'm worried about getting _inside _market.

Navi sees it, too. "Wait a minute," she says softly, but with an edge in her voice.

And Malon is the last one to see it, but the first to give words to our problem. "The drawbridge can't be _raised,_ can it?"

Even from this distance, it's clear that the drawbridge is in the upright position, which is completely abnormal for this time of day. And that's not all that's alarming. The dark clouds that have been causing much of our anxiety for the past hour are even more concentrated around the sky above the castle, and some of the clouds have strange shapes and movements.

"That's smoke," my friend whispers. She gasps. "Link, flames! The castle must be on fire!"

At first, I don't understand how Malon can assume that the _castle _is on fire, but when I spot the tongues of flame licking the sky, I see that she's right. The flames are too far away to be from market, and there's only one thing beyond market: the castle. And there is someone _very _important in the castle. "Zelda!" I shout.

All three of us run (or fly) towards the wooden barrier that we see in front of us. "It must be closed to keep the enemy in!" Malon cries.

"What makes you so sure that an enemy is attacking?" I respond with equal volume.

"I don't know! Maybe the strange noises?" She's referring to the cries, shouts, and sounds that are coming from beyond the stone; it does seem as if a battle ensues there.

Soon, we can go no further, and now there's no way in and no one to care that we're stuck outside. It's dark enough to be mistaken for the early hours of the morning, and the smell of smoke stings my lungs. Navi practically twitches as she flutters all around me. "Oh Goddesses, what are we going to do? What are we going to _do!"_

I try to say something coherent, but the only thing that comes out is a strangled sound. I have to get in there and find Zelda! "Let me in!" I shout, and I start to stomp my way towards the drawbridge. I know that this is practically useless, since you can't stomp into the moat, but I'm beyond caring. I've risked my life several times, and I've gone into places where no sane person would desire to go. I did this all because Princess Zelda told me to bring her the Spiritual Stones, and _nothing _is going to stop me from giving her those stupid stones.

Nothing except for the force pulling me by the collar of my tunic. Malon is pulling me away from the Goddessforsaken wooden wall blocking my path. "What gives!" I yell at her.

She's pissed. "Link, if that drawbridge opens, like we want it to, you'd get smooshed!" She's right, too. I had been standing on the very spot where the drawbridge would come to rest. I can almost hear the metal chains singing the song of my doom.

But Malon's wide eyes that are looking in the direction of said drawbridge are a hint that maybe I'm not _almost_ hearing the chains, and that the sound is a reality. I turn around to see the bridge lowering slowly. "See?" I say to Malon, even though I should be more focused on the fact that we can go _in _now. "It's slow enough that I would have been fine!"

A horse's whiney jolts me out of my moment of immaturity. Out from the darkness and shadows of the market gallops a white horse, and its hooves trample the grass where my feet stood lightly only seconds ago. As it passes us, time seems to freeze, and I can see the foam at its mouth and the whites of its eyes. In this moment, I am seeing a creature that is not fleeing because of the urging of its master, but because its life is certainly over if it should slow down. Maybe we should be running as well.

And then time returns to its usual pace, and the horse and its riders are bolting in the opposite direction. I see a rider turn and throw something back at us, but whatever it is misses us completely, and some part of my mind registers that it landed in the moat. The splash seems to kick start the rest of the sounds that surround me, and I can hear the sounds of roaring flames and screaming citizens once more, as well as something else.

"Link!" Malon is screaming at me. I feel my head twitch as I am completely roused from the dream-like state I just found myself in. Navi is flitting back and forth in the air between my friend and me.

"Sorry," I say breathlessly. "That was just a little sudden, that's all."

She nods in understanding. "I'm going to see what's in the moat," she tells me. "I was afraid that it was a bomb at first, but if it is, it'll have been doused by now." She frowns. "Don't think I didn't see you perk up when I said, 'bomb,'" she adds sternly.

I only smirk at her. I can't help being fascinated by things that go boom. "I'll keep watch," I say. "And be careful." I feel a little twinge of nervousness as Malon steps over to the edge of the moat. "What if it _is_ dangerous?" I whisper to Navi, and then a splash signals that Malon is in the water.

"I think there are other things to worry about," hisses my fairy, and my eyes dart in the direction of the not-so-distant pounding of more hooves. The stallion that is slowing down as it nears me is as dark as the previous horse was white, and its rider is the very man I spied on during my visit to the castle. It is Ganondorf, and the very blood in my veins freezes.

"I can't believe I lost them," he mutters to himself, and his tone implies that he never imagined that anyone could _manage _to elude _him_. His voice is deep and rumbling, and it seems to shake the ground as his horse did moments ago. His eyes sweep the landscape in front of him as if he searches for clues. I send mental signals to Malon to stay in the moat, even though I know that neither of us can speak telepathically. I'm terrified enough that _I'm _in his field of vision.

"You there!" he shouts at me, and almost every muscle in my body locks up immediately. "Tell me which way that white horse went." His eyes are burning holes in me.

I wasn't going to tell him which way the horse went, but as I try to open my mouth to say something that would be stupid in retrospect, it remains shut. I back up slightly, realizing that he might take my silence for stubbornness. Being quiet is probably worse than acting like a dumb ten-year-old. Navi is floating a little behind me; normally, she flies over to examine the person I'm speaking with, but I think she knows that Ganondorf would go into a violent rage if she flew within three feet of him. It's not that I've seen him flip out, but I can just tell it would happen. I can imagine him shouting, "Curse you, fairy! I shall not soon forget this day!" and since I find that funny for some reason, I smirk. Very bad idea.

"So," he continues menacingly, "you think you can save them, huh? You think I won't find them if you keep quiet?" His voice rises with every word. I am so horribly screwed. I can just tell. I might as well just get things over with, since he's probably going to try to kill me anyway. I pull out my sword and shield, and this action elicits a laugh from the Gerudo. "What, you think your toy sword and shield can help you, little kid? Nothing will protect you from me, the great Ganondorf!" He held out his arm, his palm facing me, and a strange glowing energy began to form in front of it. You know, maybe we should have both gone to examine what had been thrown into the moat.

And then the energy smacks into me, throwing me to the ground. I can feel it sizzling and crackling around me, and every last inch of me seems to twitch in pain. This isn't like the electricity that caused me grief in Jabu-Jabu. It might have looked like electricity at first, but I can feel the fire seeping into my bones before it finally fades away. I am lucky that the spell didn't hit me in the head; I don't think I would have lived after that.

As I sit up, I see that Ganondorf has already ridden off, and while I don't remember exactly where the white horse went, it was definitely not in the direction in which Ganondorf is heading; his dust trail leads to Kakariko. I'm glad that at least the other rider is safe, but if Ganondorf hits a dead end at Kakariko, he might come back. He might look for me.

"Link, are you okay?" Navi asks frantically. "Goddesses, I thought that spell would have killed you!" She flies up to me and hugs me around the neck with her tiny arms. My neck must be as big to her as the Great Deku Tree was to me.

"I'm all right," I say, and my voice croaks now that I can talk again. "It just hurt a lot, but it's better now." The memory still lingers, though, and I know that if I meet up with Ganondorf again, I'm going to have to protect myself better.

"Fairy Boy!" Malon is running toward me in her drenched clothing. She's carrying something in each hand. "Fairy Boy, are you all right?" She sounds as worried as Navi did moments ago. "Who the hell was that? Was that Ganondorf? What did he do to you? _Why _did he do that to you? Goddesses, are you okay?"

I don't know which question to answer first. "Um…Uh…Well…See…Uh…What's that?" While I struggle to locate the right words, I take an interest in what she's carrying. It's small, blue, and ocarina-shaped; even though I know that it has to be the Ocarina of Time, I can't believe that anyone would have thrown it away.

"It's for you," my friend responds, and she hands me not only the ocarina (which is definitely the Ocarina of Time, complete with a lovely Triforce symbol), but also a small glass vial; it's open, but I can see that Malon is still holding the tiny cork. "There's a note. Sorry that I already read it."

She's right; there's a tiny scroll of paper in the miniature bottle. I hand the ocarina back to Malon and pull out the paper. It's difficult to unroll, but when I manage to grip the end of the parchment long enough to pull down the rest of the paper, I can finally read the message. Navi looks over my shoulder.

_Link,_

_If you're reading this, it means that you have the Ocarina of Time. I'm sorry that I was unable to discuss matters with you in person, but the war has already begun. Impa believes she has found a safe place for me to keep me away from Ganondorf. While he's on my trail, however, you can use the ocarina and the Spiritual Stones to enter the Temple of Time and the Sacred Realm. You can use the Triforce to stop Ganondorf and this war! You will also need this melody to enter the Sacred Realm, and I've written it out below. I wish you the best of luck, and I hope that we will see each other very soon!_

_Zelda_

I stare at the note for a few moments. Was Princess Zelda the rider on the white horse? How had she known that she would be able to get the ocarina to me on her way out of the castle? Is she actually serious about me using the Triforce? Malon steps over to me and pulls the note from my hand. She takes a few moments to read the note and mull things over.

"Well, let's go," she says grimly.

Navi speaks, for I have been struck dumb again. "What do you mean? You can't mean for us to go to the Temple of Time! It's a war zone in there! We'd be killed before we even made it across the plaza!"

While Navi continues to shout at Malon, I simply watch her with my brows furrowed. Does she really think we should go in there? I know relatively little about the Triforce, since the Kokiri Forest is so sheltered, and we rarely told religious stories. How can I be sure that I'm the right person to be even using this sacred artifact? What if I mess up? Do Zelda and Malon really think I can do this? Of course Zelda does, although after she wrote that letter saying that I was on a quest to save Hyrule, I'm not really surprised that she would also trust me with something as incredibly holy and powerful as the Triforce.

But Malon doesn't base her opinions on legends and stories and dreams. Does she really think me capable of all this?

I'm tired, though. I came here to see the Princess and hand over the stupid stones. I came here so I could be finished and go home. I didn't come here to save the world, no matter what Zelda's little letter had said.

"Let's go back, Malon," I say forcefully. Navi stops herself in mid-shriek and flutters triumphantly over to me. "We should leave before the fighting goes beyond the walls."

Malon's face is tear-stained, and it's only now that I realize that Navi has been seriously chewing her out. Sympathy wells up inside of me; I've suggested much stupider ideas to Navi before, and the fairy has never been so harsh. But then again, war was now a factor. Walking into a war zone and holding a lit bomb for an extended period of time are two different things, especially since I _was _planning to throw that bomb before it exploded, no matter what Navi says.

"Link! How can we just leave?" She holds out her hands, one of which grips the ocarina.

I throw my hands up in frustration, nearly losing the note. "Malon, we can't stay here! We'll die! This isn't worth the risk. And I'm supposed to keep the Triforce safe from Ganondorf, you know. I can just hide these things so he won't ever get the Triforce!"

"Right, as if he won't track you down! What'll you do then?"

I blank on a retort at first, but when I look into my hands, as if they hold the answers, I see the note with the essential song. I hold it out towards her angrily. "I'll destroy this note! Then he won't have the song!" Ha, take that.

Her mouth opens, but she says nothing for a moment. "Well, maybe he'll find the Princess and get the song from her. And I'm sure someone _else _must know it, too." Her reasoning is sound, but we both know that without the note, Ganondorf is pretty powerless. But her face hardens. "But Princess Zelda asked to you get the Triforce to stop the war!" she cries. "It's not just about stopping Ganondorf from getting it. You have another reason to get it!"

"For Goddess' sake, Malon, what does it matter? Ganondorf started the war anyway. If no one has the Triforce, there's no reason why the Hylian army won't win!" I let out a cry of rage. "Stop being so determined to die, okay? We are only ten years old! Let's go back to the ranch!"

Malon is red in the face, and new tears fly from her eyes. "Link, you have to do this! People are dying in there, and you can stop it! And if you don't stop it, it'll spread. The war will come to the ranch, and we won't be safe there! What if Dad and Mr. Ingo die? What if the ranch is burned down?" She pauses, and the rage leaves her. She's now just crying. "You have the power and ability to save people, _and _you've been asked to help people. If you don't do this, no one will, and it will be _your fault!"_

I don't realize that the war would spread to the ranch until she mentions it. I'm an idiot for not realizing it. The place that we both call home, although I do only in secret, is at risk. And if Ganondorf decides to come after us, no place we stay is safe.

"Fine," I croak. "But you're coming with me, okay?"

She smiles as she wipes her face with a damp handkerchief. "Deal."

* * *

I've had to add notes to the beginning of this story and to the beginning of Just a Farm Girl asking that people ASK me before adding either story to a C2 archive. If you've already added either one, that's fine, but for future reference, **please ask me first.**


	5. My goodness, Eustace!

We sit outside the Temple of Time, and we're panting so much that I'm amazed we haven't been found. The square is full of townspeople running in every direction as stalfos knights swing their swords without discrimination. Ganondorf doesn't seem too concerned about actually killing people, however; fear seems to be his primary tactic. If you scare everyone into submission, you have power.

Malon is indeed scared. She's hugging her knees to her chest, and she refused to stop crying until I held her, which was a little awkward. I've never been the hugging type. But I feel bad for her, and so my arms are around her. I've had to sneak past monsters before, and I've had to defend myself on numerous occasions; getting from the drawbridge to the temple was way easier than dodging those stupid baby dodongos (and those were cool, since they blew up). Malon's never seen this sort of destruction before. The only death she's been exposed to is whatever happens on the ranch normally. I don't think that seeing death, fear, and destruction is something you get used to, though. I don't think Malon could ever get used to it. I think I was born with the ability to handle it. Jabu-Jabu was a fluke, but I don't think anyone except for Ruto is crazy enough to handle that.

Navi is flitting around erratically. "I can't believe we're really going to get the Triforce," she says excitedly. Running through a war zone has done wonders for her spirits; there's nothing like running through a war zone to make an adventurous fairy feel better.

I feel better, too. There are only three things that scare me, and those things are Jabu-Jabu's belly, skulltulas, and Ganondorf. Jabu-Jabu's belly was so horrible that I will never go back. Skulltulas are creepy, but that makes killing them all the more satisfying. Ganondorf scares me because…well, I don't know how to defend myself from him, let alone bring him down. I also have this horrible feeling that I'm resourceful enough to survive anything but him.

The sounds of the fighting grow louder and louder, and I realize that we need to get into the temple and to the Triforce sooner rather than later. I don't know what's going to happen when I get inside; Zelda had only explained what I needed to get to the Sacred Realm, not what I needed to do or what would happen after I did it. I might only need mere seconds, or I might need a half hour. I really have no idea.

"Come on," I whisper to Malon as I help pull her into a standing position. It might be better for her if we're inside the temple instead of outside near the fray. She doesn't seem to object to moving inside, and I'm thankful that I don't have to drag her. Soon, we're in a dark stone hallway, and the screams and shouts cannot be heard through the granite or the heavy wooden door.

The temple is strangely empty, but I recall that it's only ever inhabited on Friday evenings, when services were held to honor the Goddesses. I hadn't actually been to a service, but I had been hanging around the temple on a Thursday (playing with the gossip stones) when I met the sage who held the services. He tried to convince me to join the congregation for services, and to show me how little commitment was involved aside from attending the two-hour service, he told me that he himself only came to the temple on Thursday afternoons to prepare his sermon, and then Friday to give the sermon. "Otherwise, the temple is empty," he told me before admitting that the emptiness was partially caused by the lack of funds.

Since it's Thursday, I expect to find the sage hanging around inside. Malon's shriek sets my hairs on end, and I think I know the fate of the kind sage. I turn to find Malon, and she's sobbing over the body of the strangled old man. She faces me and asks in a hissing whisper, "What if they're still inside?"

I search the rest of the building, but I find nothing. The temple itself is small, with only two rooms. The first room is the main room, with space for the chairs that are currently stacked against the wall. At the end of the room, there is a small set of steps that leads to the altar, where the sage stands during his sermon. The altar looks awkwardly constructed. The second room is a small store room that the sage took over to use as his office. A desk is covered in notes and religious books, and the Triforce symbol litters everything. And there are signs of a scuffle that lead me to believe the sage was ambushed here before being dragged outside and finished off.

I return to Malon's side to inform her that the temple is empty, and I find that she has locked the great wooden door. I give her a reassuring hug; it might feel weird to me, but it makes her feel a lot better, and she is my friend. "What now?" she asks, her voice trembling.

Navi is fluttering over the altar. "Link, check this out." When Malon and I take a closer look, we find that the wooden altar has been built over stone. But why not just remove the older stone altar to make way for the new one? And what was so wrong with the older altar anyway? My curiosity to see this older altar was growing rather quickly.

"You know, considering today's events, I don't think this temple is going to be used very much," I say slowly.

Malon frowns. "What are you up to?" she asks. There is no getting around this girl.

"I mean, I don't know what to do next, and I don't want to sift through all the paper's in the sage's office if I don't have to."

Her eyes widen. "Are you going to rip the wood off?"

I shrug sheepishly. "Well, yeah. If it doesn't help, I swear that I'll go to the office and see what I can find."

Malon pulls out a short knife and begins to pry away at the wood. I guess I stare for too long. "What? Do you think Dad would let me leave the ranch alone with you if I didn't have a weapon with me?"

"Well, um, no…" I hack at the wood with my sword. "But hey, I could protect you just fine, you know. I'm no weakling."

She senses my hurt pride. "I know you can. I carry it with me normally, though. It's no big deal."

It's no big deal, but it still bothers me as we pull off the wood piece by piece. Soon, the newer construction sits in shambles to the side, and a plain stone altar remains in front of us. I step closer only to find writing across the top. I grin. "I found the instructions."

Malon sets up the stones as I sit off to the side, trying to figure out this new song. I've managed to learn songs by ear up until now, and unless I hear the melody, I don't know what notes to play. I feel so inadequate; Zelda entrusted this ocarina, this song, this _job _to someone she thought knew how to read music. Instead, I just sat on the floor, playing random notes on the ocarina, pretending that I knew what I was doing.

I can hear Malon's footsteps behind me, and I sigh as she sits down beside me. "Is everything all right?" she asks, and I don't hear any mocking in her voice. I explain the problem to her, even though I'm ashamed to admit it. She just shrugs. "Well, I can read music. Let's go to the altar. I'll sing the song, and you can repeat it." This is an unexpectedly easy solution, and I wonder how she can think so clearly when she was hysterical only ten minutes ago.

Navi sits on my shoulder, and I can feel her anxiety, which I share. It's not that I doubt Malon's ability to read music, but I have no idea if Zelda wrote down the notes clearly enough in her rush to escape the castle. What if something goes wrong? But there's no reason we shouldn't try. Malon examines the slightly crumpled note and sings what sounds like a solemn hymn. The look on her face lets me know that she feels the same way that I do; the song isn't very creative or interesting. The sound does fit the setting, though, and I simply shrug before putting the ocarina to my lips. I play the tune back, but I fudge the ending. "Hold on, I'll get it," I say to reassure my friend and my fairy. Navi starts trembling, and I already am. Malon is also visibly nervous; she keeps playing with her hands.

After another few tries, I get the song right. "Ugh, finally," I say, since it needs to be said, and it would be rude for Malon or Navi to say it. At first, nothing happens.

"But you did it right," Navi murmurs, and Malon takes the note out of my pocket, which is awkward, and reads the notes over again.

"Well, I can't see where I made a mistake," she says apologetically as she puts the note back. Part of me says that it's not appropriate for her to be putting her hand in my pocket, but it's not really a big deal.

I'm about to tell her that judging by the sound of the song, she had it right, and that something else must be wrong, but I'm interrupted before I can even begin to speak. The Triforce sign on the back wall of the temple begins to glow very brightly, and I can no longer look anymore. I shut my eyes tightly, but my vision is still red. When it turns black again, I hear Navi shout, "Look!" and I do so. Incredibly, the Triforce symbol has changed from gray stone to gold.

And then the back wall opens, and I grab Malon's arm in shock. "Oh my Goddess!" she gasps. "It's a door!" How could we have not seen that it was a door? Now, it makes perfect sense, and we can see very clearly that there was a straight line where the door met the real wall. Sometimes, we aren't very bright, I suppose. But I think it's fair to say that we had been a little concerned with dead bodies, double altars, and that damn melody. If we had been looking for a door, we would have found it.

The grating noise ends as the door stops moving, and we carefully step into the next room. "Someone _had _to know that this room was here," I say to Malon. "I can't believe that people could see this building from the outside and not realize that it had to contain another room."

"I know," Malon replies with a bitter chuckle. "'My goodness, Eustace! This room sure is a lot smaller than I thought it would be!" We both share a much-needed laugh, but Navi doesn't join in. I'm about to tell her to lighten up when I realize that she's not on my shoulder anymore. She has flown to the middle of the room, and she's going wild. There's a sword there, but it seems to be cut off at the end; it's in a pedestal. Malon sees it, too. "Weird," she says softly.

"It's more than just weird!" Navi exclaims. "This is the Master Sword!" Clearly, the words did not have the intended effect, since she got annoyed when neither of us responded in awe. "It's the Sword of Evil's Bane!" I still have no idea what she's talking about. "Fine," she says, exasperated. "It's a legendary sword. Nothing evil can bear its touch!"

Instead of finding the Triforce, we've found a sword. But if nothing evil can bear the touch of this sword, and if Ganondorf is the most evil noun I can think of, then I may have just found the solution to my pest problem. If I have this sword, I can defeat Ganondorf! What better way to keep him from getting the Triforce than to kill him? I'm nota murderous person, but after this war, I'd be surprised if many people would condemn me for killing the man.

"Come on," Malon says, and she pulls me towards the sword. "I don't see anything else around, so we might as well pull this out." She reaches out for the sword and grabs the hilt. I find myself tense, waiting to see what will happen, and I also feel possessive. I know that we both just found this sword, but I see it, and I think it's mine somehow. But that's silly, because it's not my sword. I don't own any swords, not even the one on my back.

A loud bang startles all three of us. Navi dives into my hat and shouts, "Hurry!" as we realize that the raging battle is coming to the temple. The noise we just heard is the sound of the door being broken down. We don't have much time left, and I go into battle-mode. My hands fly on top of Malon's, and the sword slips from the pedestal. I hear screaming, but when I try to comfort Malon, I realize that the screams are coming from my own mouth. My vision goes completely white.

My eyes must have remained open, because moments later, I see the last person I want to see: Ganondorf. Rage and hate boils in my blood, and if I could feel my body, I would feel my hands being clenched into fists. My enemy is laughing.

"I'm glad I had that door broken down when I did!" he's saying. "I almost missed the opportunity I was waiting for, you know." I know that worst case scenario is probably true, or coming true, and I keep trying to find my body so I can strangle this guy. "But I'm sure glad I followed you two kids. If I hadn't recognized the little boy from the castle that day, I would have ridden all the way to Kakariko and missed this chance." Is he even close enough for me to kill him now? He seems close, and yet far away. Have I been drugged or something?

"But thanks, kids. If you hadn't pulled that sword out, I would never have gotten this far. And now, the greatest power in history shall be mine!"

And he fades from sight, and as I slip into unconsciousness, the last thing I hear is his laugh.

* * *

Leaping lobsters! It took a seriously horrible number of times for me to be able to edit this stupid document. Now, I can finally upload the damn thing. I hope that when I get back to school on Wednesday, this site won't be trying to kill me so much.

Please do me a huge favor and don't complain about this chapter being _only _twenty-five hundred words. I don't decide chapters by length, ya know, but by what's going on. So NYAH.


	6. Bad Link

Something is clearly wrong. The last thing I remember is Ganondorf laughing, although that seems so long ago at the same time. And I remember not being able make my body move, either, but now I can feel my body again. I shift uncomfortably, and it feels as if my skin doesn't fit. I'm also thinking differently, I suppose; although it sounds crazy, I feel older. But there are two thoughts that are foremost in my mind: where are Malon and Navi, and where in Hyrule am _I?_

I try to open my eyes in the same way as I wake up from a nightmare, but they refuse to snap open. Instead, they drag open slowly, as if there are one thousand weights tied to my eyelashes. My vision blurs in and out of focus several times before I can see the strange blue atmosphere in front of me, or at least I think it's in front of me before I register the pressure against my back: I'm lying down.

My first instinct is to scramble to my feet, but the rest of me responds in the same fashion as my eyes did previously. I feel as if I'm shaking off years of inactivity and sleep, and the only thing to be partially awake is my mind. It's all I can do to keep myself from falling over as I struggle to unbend my knees and rise to a standing position.

"Welcome, Link," says a voice from some direction that I'm not facing. The voice is a man's voice, and it's soft, but not soft enough to keep me from falling right on my ass in shock. "You should feel fine in a few moments."

I'm not totally reassured, but I follow the voice to my left, where I see the source. The man is short, with a fantastic white moustache and voluminous golden robes. He patiently waits for me to stand up, which I finally succeed in doing. Never would I have imagined that the simple act of rising to my feet would ever be so difficult. It's easier to focus on him now. Of course, now I have no energy to speak.

"I am Rauru," the man informs me, and I nod in understanding as I process the name. What's wrong with me? "I am the Sage of Light, one of the protectors of the Sacred Realm. We are currently in the Chamber of the Sages, the last stronghold against Ganondorf and his wickedness."

"What happened?" I finally managed to ask, and then I immediately clap my hands over my mouth. This is not my voice at all! Am I in someone else's body? Is this why I feel so strange? So wrong?

Rauru chuckles, and I want to throw something at him. He finds this amusing? I'll show him _amusing. _"Let me explain, Link." Yes. Explain. Please, explain who I am, and why I feel as if I've been drugged. "The Master Sword can only be removed from the Pedestal of Time by a person worthy to be the Hero of Time. Unfortunately, while you were certainly worthy to be the Hero of Time, you were not old enough, and the sword itself sealed you away into the Sacred Realm until you were of age to become the Hero. Unfortunately, Ganondorf followed you into the Sacred Realm and managed to take the Triforce. He has used its power to become the King of Evil." He pauses for a moment. "I have no idea why he calls himself that," he says thoughtfully, dropping his air of ceremony. "I mean, who calls himself the King of Evil?"

"What's wrong with me?" I ask in my strange voice. I want him to stop trying to decipher Ganondorf's psyche and start explaining what exactly was happening with me. "What's going on?"

Rauru shrugs a little sadly at me. "Well, Link, you were sealed away until you were old enough to be the Hero of Time, as I told you. Now, you're old enough to take up the Master Sword and defeat Ganondorf!"

"Old enough?" I hate the uncertainty in my voice. But am I really older? I look at my hands, as if there is a great difference between the hands of a ten-year-old and those of an adult. But when I do see my hands, they are _huge. _There are gloves on them as well, gauntlets I'd never have been able to fill before. I'm shaking as I raise my hands to my face. My childish contours are gone, and I can feel angles. My nose is much longer now, and straighter than it was before. I try to look myself over as best I can, and there is no doubt that I'm an adult.

"Yes, you are seventeen now," Rauru tells me, but he's a million miles away from me. I'm seventeen, and now I'm on the verge of the breakdown that I've been avoiding. Seven years have been stolen from me.

But then I feel some reassurance in the form of movement in my hair. Navi is stirring under my hat. I feel her lift up the front of the cloth and gasp. "Whoa, where are we? What happened?"

Rauru begins to fill her in, although he's interrupted when Navi flies out of my hat and turns around to face me ("_Omigosh! _Link, you're _hot!")_. After he finishes giving us the details a second time, I realize that one important question has been left unasked and unanswered. In my panic at discovering my new body, I completely forgot that someone was missing.

"Where's Malon?" I ask with apprehension in my voice. "She was with me when I pulled the sword out. Where is she?"

To my shock and displeasure, Rauru's face darkens. "Yes," he says unhappily. "Malon. I was waiting to speak with you first, but I'm going to send her back in time if I can." He shrugs. "If not, I suppose I can try to keep her here. But it might be wise for me to find some sort of place for her in a nearby country."

"What are you talking about?" asks Navi. Fear and distrust are present in her question.

Rauru looks a little worried as he responds hesitantly. "Well, I can just let her back into Hyrule, you see. Everyone would think that she was crazy if she started spouting stories about how she was in the Sacred Realm for seven years, and all that." We stare at him blankly, still not understanding. "Look, there are certain houses that act as homes for the mentally ill. Now, I know that she's really _not _mentally ill, but—"

"How could you do that?" I practically shout. "How could you punish her like that? Does she not have any say in any of this?"

"Well, she's only a mortal woman," Rauru says with slight disdain in his voice.

"She's my best friend."

"Look, Rauru," Navi says with a fierceness that I rarely hear, "Malon's a smart girl, and I think that she has the right to know what's going on. She might only be a normal person, but so is Link!"

"Link is the Hero of Time!" Rauru stresses, and I can see that he's getting annoyed with our insistence.

"So what?" Navi is getting angry. "Sure he might be able to wield this sword, but he's still a normal guy!"

I can see that Navi's never going to make Rauru understand, and I already know he won't convince either of us that Malon needs to be kept away somewhere. "I want to see her," I say forcefully, interrupting the battle of wills that is going on between this Sage and my fairy.

"Link, that would not be wise," the Sage begins.

"Well, I'm not exactly known for my wisdom," I point out bitterly. I'm no idiot, certainly, but I've made more than my fair share of what some may call "poor decision-making." I call it "creativity" and "bad luck." "Let me see her." I clench my fists.

"I'm sorry, Link, but I cannot."

"Where is she!" My voice echoes in the void that surrounds us, and I'm surprised at my own anger. But why can't I see my best friend? "You'd let me see her if she were someone else, wouldn't you?" I ask resentfully. "If I were asking to see Zelda, Saria, Darunia, or even Ruto, you'd oblige me."

Rauru looks uncomfortable. "Well, none of those people are here," he points out, even though this is obvious even to me. "And the people you name are very much different from the young ranch girl. She is…inconsequential, to be honest."

I reach for my sword, which is in the very same place as it was seven years earlier. It's only after I pull it out and hold myself in a ready position that I realize that my Hylian shield finally fits me, and the sword in my hand is the Master Sword. Cool. "I'm only going to say this once more," I warn. "Let me see her."

He doesn't look frightened; he only looks concerned. "Why are you so angry?" he asks me seriously, and a million reasons bubble into my head. Because I've missed seven years of my life. Because Ganondorf got the Triforce. Because the last time I was conscious, I had run through a war zone. Because I want to see my best friend, and I want to see her now.

But he holds his hands out to calm me, since I won't back down. "All right, then," he says sadly. "But this is a bad idea." I relax and put my weapon away. Navi flits back to my hat, and she sits on the hem of it, right on top of where my hair peeks out. Rauru is muttering some words in a language that is unfamiliar to me, and I'm about to ask him what the language is when I see a form solidify to the left.

If I didn't already know that I was looking at Malon, I probably wouldn't have guessed that the woman appearing out of thin air was my friend. Of course, it doesn't help much that her hair is so long that it covers most of her face and pools around her head and shoulders like brown blood from a wound. She's still asleep, wrapped in a cream-colored robe, and slightly sprawled on the floor, her knees slightly tucked in and one arm thrown out above her head. I worry for a moment that maybe she's not actually alive; perhaps Rauru had been planning to tell me Malon was being sent away, and after I left to stop Ganondorf alone, he would pick up a spade and carry her lifeless form to the graveyard.

But to my immense relief, she's stirring slightly; her fingers flex a little, and she tucks her chin in a bit. I stride over to her quickly and kneel down so I can move her hair from her face. "Malon, wake up. Come on, wake up," I say softly but urgently, still fearing (somehow) that her eyes will never open. Finally, they do so, although sluggishly, and I remember trying to open my own minutes ago. Blue-green eyes struggle to find a focus point, and I chuckle even though she probably doesn't find this funny at all.

"Hey, there," I say gently, and I help to pull her into some semblance of a sitting position. She's blinking repeatedly and her eyes space out every few seconds before sharpening again. "Whoa, now, just look at me, okay?" I feel as if I'm taking care of a young child or baby, and for a moment, I wish that someone had been by my side to help me wake up as well. My guidance seems to help, though, and Malon's eyes remain open and she seems alert.

Her first signs of cognition are the furrowing of her eyebrows and a frown. She's staring at me thoughtfully. "Link?" she asks clearly, and she pauses to cough into a cupped hand. "Excuse me," she says, but then she pauses again in a sort of angry confusion. She lets out a sigh as she rolls her eyes and clears her throat again. "Sorry, I don't know—" She stops again, clearly frustrated, and she lightly touches her throat with her fingers, as if she can determine the state of her vocal chords through the skin and tissue.

"It's okay, Malon," I reassure her. "Don't worry about your voice." Why couldn't someone have been there to wake me up like this? Rauru is hardly comforting.

"Link is that really you?" She still seems uncomfortable with the timbre of her voice.

"It's him!" says Navi cheerfully as she flies up to the two of us.

Malon grins. "Navi, at least you're the same. What happened?"

"It's a long story," I tell her. "Come on, I'll help you stand up."

"He's _hot,_ now," Navi informs Malon seriously as I pull my friend onto her unsteady feet. She's pulling on my arms and tunic as she tries to find her balance.

"Yes, he is," Malon says, nodding in agreement. "He looks very handsome." She studies me again, as if she'll be tested on my appearance later. "You're taller than I am!" she exclaims. "Why aren't we the same height?"

I laugh nervously. "Well, are all men and women the same height?"

She chuckles as if to admit her foolishness, but her laugh is short-lived. Whatever color had been in her face before drains away noticeably, and I know she's figured it out. At first, I feel like teasing her a little for not being able to piece together all of the clues pointing to our new bodies, but that's not very fair of me. After all, she'd have to be paranoid to have expected this situation; she was most likely trying to think of a plausible situation, and I wouldn't really refer to this whole mess as plausible by any means.

She begins to react in much the same way as I did. Her hands run over her face, and she almost breaks her neck trying to look over herself. I'm still by her side with my arms in the air around her in case she loses her balance, and my eyes involuntarily follow her eyes and hands. It's only now that I realize that I haven't been worried about cooties at all since I saw Malon, and I actually feel some sort of pleasure at calming her and holding her. And I'm certainly feeling some sort of pleasure as I keep a watchful eye on her. This is uncomfortable and unsupportive of me. Why does it feel so strangely nice to look at her? And at the same time, why does that make me feel so unfair and guilty?

"How…H-how old are we?" she finally asks me in a cracking voice.

"Seventeen," I sigh, and that's the breaking point for my friend. In a split second, she throws herself into my arms in tears. The reasonable part of my mind says that this situation should not be enjoyed, but this new and seemingly immoral part of my mind is shouting, "Yeah! Cool!" This isn't cool, and I know it isn't cool, but it feels nice. "It's okay, Malon. You have to calm down." Rauru is all but forgotten off to the side, and I can tell he's getting pissed off. My friend sniffs back her tears, although she seems a little reluctant, so I keep my arm around her. I have a feeling that it will make her feel better, and Goddess knows it makes me feel all right. Bad Link. Bad.

"Yes, thank you," Rauru mumbles bitterly. "I'm very glad you remembered that there are things to be done." I feel hot as I remember Ganondorf and his King of Evil deal, and Rauru brings Malon up to date with current events. I'm not really paying very much attention, since this is the third time I've heard the spiel, and I've only been awake for a half hour or so. Navi's not paying much attention either; she's sitting on Malon's shoulder, and I can tell that she's cleaning her nails even from this distance.

And so my mind wanders, and since I know that Rauru's going to chastise me for not listening in a few minutes anyway, I figure I can think about whatever I want to. I try to think about Zelda a little bit; I haven't seen her since she sent me on my merry way, to take care of the seemingly simply task of collecting two items from kingdoms that are friendly with the Hylians. I wish I could see Zelda and shout, "You were wrong! It was hard!" but considering the state of the country before Malon and I pulled out the Master Sword, I doubt that the ease of my errand would have ever been at the forefront of the Princess' mind.

But then I start to wonder what Zelda would look like now. Would she still wear her hair up in that silly hat thingy? Or would she let it down, like Malon does, so it would be a silky, golden cascade? The wisps of hair that escaped the clothes looked so fine that I wonder what it would feel like to run my hands through it. Dear Farore, what am I thinking about? This is wrong! This is just like looking at Malon, and the robe as it drapes over her curves, which are emphasized by that one strip of cloth that's holding the garment shut.

Whoa, uh-oh. I hope no one sees this. That would be embarrassing. Maybe it will go away by itself.

"Link, are you listening?" Finally, Rauru has something new to say.

"No," I admit. I don't lie when I haven't been listening; then, I'm always asked what was said, and so I have to come clean anyway.

I smirk a little as Rauru rolls his eyes and lets out a "humph." "As I was saying, Link has been chosen by the Goddesses to awaken the other five Sages and defeat Ganonforf. This will be no easy task, but I think that you will find your new body to be a great advantage as you complete this task. You'll be able to stand your ground more easily, attack with more force, and use weapons that require a significant amount of strength. There will be people who will help you with this task of saving Hyrule, and so you will always have guidance."

"What about Malon?" I ask tensely. I don't want him to say something to upset her. She's my best friend, even if I can't look at her without entertaining enough strange thoughts to frighten Ganondorf himself.

"Can I go home?" she asks softly. "If I've really been gone for seven years, my father must miss me terribly."

Rauru shakes his head. "The ranch is not how it once was, nor how it should be. And your father thinks that you died in the battle that took place at the castle on the day that you came to the Temple of Time. Seeing you after seven years of guilt and sorrow will only cause him to go mad."

Malon sighs heavily, and I realize that even though she's been asleep for seven years, she is still homesick. I miss Saria, now that I think about it, but Malon is my only close friend outside of the forest, and I while I'm worried about what might happen to her, at least I'm with her right now. "I'll go with Link, then," she says suddenly.

I almost fall over, and Rauru snorts indignantly. Navi perks up. "You? Go with him?" Rauru sneers. "My dear, you're a farm girl. How could you help the legendary Hero of Time in life-or-death situations that require his inherent skills?"

The farm girl is red with embarrassment and anger. "I'm not useless," she says venomously. "I'm a fast learner, and I can think quickly when time is of the essence. And how would it be harder for two people to defeat Ganondorf than for just one?"

"You could get in the way," Rauru retorts. "Link is fully capable of handling everything that can and will come his way, and barring some miracle, you are _not. _He cannot spend his time keeping you safe when he has other things to worry about."

Malon is quiet for a moment, and my spirits sink. It would be nice for her to come with me. Navi and I can only distract each other from the serious nature of our work so much; while Rauru thinks that Malon would be a negative distraction, I think that I might feel a little happier to have her company. And I know that Navi would love some girl talk; I'm really sick of hearing about the drama that's gone on between her and other fairies before she was sent to accompany me.

Just as I'm about to try basic whining to break Rauru, Malon speaks up again. "Look, Link is quite capable of doing everything he needs to do," she says, and I grin at the compliment, although I'm a little nervous about why she's singing my praises when she should be singing her own. But the smile on my face freezes as she continues. "Unfortunately, he lacks the motivation to do just about anything that involves being responsible."

"That's not true," I snap, but I can't think of any concrete examples of when I was responsible about something important.

Rauru doesn't seem to mind that I haven't backed up my claim. "How would you explain how he accomplished all that he was asked to do?" he asks proudly. "Do you deny that he collected all three stones and then went to the Temple of Time after Princess Zelda threw him the ocarina?" Oh, so that was _Zelda _on the horse.

"He may have done all these things," Malon says forcefully, "but he did almost everything only because I told him to do so."

Rauru makes a strange sputtering sound for a few moments, and Malon, Navi, and I all glance at each other worriedly before the Sage finally pulls himself together. "You lying wench!" he scoffs, and I feel myself tense up a serious amount. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

"It's true," I finally admit. "Navi managed to get me to go see the Princess after I broke the curse on the Great Deku Tree, but if Malon hadn't really forced me, I wouldn't have gotten the other two Spiritual Stones. And I also wouldn't have gone to the castle that day…the last day we were kids…and I also wouldn't have gone through the battle into the temple. And I wouldn't have been able to open the door to get the Master Sword either," I add. "I can't read music."

Rauru sputters again and then goes thoughtfully silent for a moment. Finally, he sighs heavily. "Fine," he says shortly. "She can go with you." Malon hugs me excitedly, and I hug her back happily. Sure, part of me feels that holding her to feel good is wrong, but if it makes her happy, why can't we both be happy?

* * *

Oh, poor Link and his newly discovered hormones. This is going to be FUN.

Sorry for the lack of updates. I am now back at school (hurrah!), and tonight, I'm going to see Lifehouse at the Avalon in Boston. And an alternate title for this chapter was, "Link, you're HOT!" and while that's very true, I liked "Bad Link" better. Yes, he's hot, but what's more important is that he's naughty, even though he doesn't know it yet.


	7. Vacancies

She's mad at me already, and I'm mad at her. It hasn't even been a day yet, and we can't even look at each other.

It all started out badly when we got back to the temple. Malon didn't like the first person we met, Sheik, because he "made her feel uncomfortable." Well, he made _me _feel uncomfortable, too, but that was because of all the tight clothing he was wearing. I felt guilty for looking anywhere but his face. It wasn't the same bad feeling that I got when I was looking at Malon, but it wasn't a great feeling nonetheless.

The temple hadn't been touched since we left, which was a bad, bad thing. The poor sage had lain undisturbed, and his remains erased any doubts that we may have had about it being seven years later. He was only a skeleton, with a few moldy scraps of cloth lying on, around, and even in his gray bones. Malon cried; I threw up.

Crossing the old market was bad, too. Malon had to use a sword for the first time. Rauru felt badly about letting her go with me unarmed, and although I was annoyed that he thought that I was incapable of protecting both of us, I'm not so much of an idiot that I wouldn't want Malon armed. Of course, I'm going to have to give her lessons; she ran through the market screaming, swinging her blade in all directions. I tried to talk to her afterwards about the problems with her technique (such as the fact that she drew _how much _attention to us!), but she turned bright red and refused to talk about it. And when I pressed her, she practically shrieked at me, and I guess I may have raised my voice a little in response. If I had known how stubborn she'd be, I might not have let her come with me.

So then we went to Kakariko Village, where we are now, and looked around at how much it's changed. It's one hell of a lot bigger than it was yesterday, seven years ago, and I'm surprised that Ganondorf hasn't gotten his paws on it. Malon was clearly uneasy; I asked her if everything was okay, and she jumped a little before saying that she knew a lot of people. Apparently, the castle town inhabitants hadn't moved too far from the ruins of their home.

It didn't take long to figure out what Sheik had been talking to when he said we'd find something in Kakariko that would help us. Sometimes, I wonder if people go out of their way to make things easy for me to find. Or maybe they just think I'm dense or something. Maybe I should pay more attention to what I'm doing instead of thinking about how Malon's so pissed at me. I'm already losing sight of Dampé as I trip on the dirt in his grave. Why is this grave so big anyway? Maybe Dampé has a lot of time on his hands, even though he's _dead, _and he derives some pleasure from making mazes through graves? Ugh. If my life didn't depend on following Dampé, I'd stop to punch the wall, even though it's made of soil, so it would crumble. And I bet a skeleton would tumble out, too. And then I would lose sight of the lantern, and in some amount of time, my skeleton would be giving the other one company.

And then I almost run into Dampé's lantern. He's chuckling sinisterly as he floats too close for comfort; I'm scared that he'll light my tunic on fire. And all of a sudden, he's gone, and I realize that most of the light is coming from torches that are lining a small room. In fact, it's the same small room that this stupid maze-race-thing began in. The stupid dead grave-digger promised me a reward, and if letting me live is my reward, I am going to just head right back into the maze and die. I kick a boulder in frustration.

The boulder is hollow. And wooden. It's a chest, actually. I utter some words that weren't in my vocabulary before. I don't even know where they're from, but they're just pouring out of my mouth in a way that feels strangely comforting. I open the chest to find a hook-shot, which is a pretty sweet reward. If only I had seen this chest before agreeing to the stupid maze! It would have saved me time and energy, and I also wouldn't have been risking my life. But hey, I'm good at risking my life and not dying. That's probably why I was worthy of being the Hero of Time. I can imagine the job requirements. "Number One: Able to survive situations that have a 99.99 chance of death. Number Two: Free Mondays and Wednesdays from five to seven. . ."

I climb up out of the grave only to see Malon's face. The shouts and sneers from our fight come rushing back to me, and I return her glare. She doesn't seem to be over my ultimatum, but I am totally not backing down.

"So, was it incredibly dangerous?" she asks hotly. "Would I have been unable to defend myself? Unable to keep up? Unable to be helpful?"

"It _was _dangerous," I retort. "Just drop it, okay?" I dust myself off.

"You just feel like you have to work solo because of your new title," she sneers.

"You just feel like you have to. . ." I can't think of anything clever to say. "Look, just shut up, okay?"

"Both of you, shut up," says Navi, who flies out from under my hat. "Link got a hook-shot by following a ghost through a maze." Goddess, it seems so much less _dangerous _when she says it. "Let's go find somewhere to stay tonight."

We weave through the headstones to get out of the graveyard. I find myself looking at Malon again. At first, it's to glare, but then I'm staring at her again as she walks, and guilt rises up into me. I feel bad about looking at her, but I don't feel guilty that we're fighting; she's being a huge baby about it. My ultimatum is pretty reasonable, I think: she accompanies me and helps me out, so long as she stays behind while I'm actually doing the heroics. That means no temples, no battles, and no graves. She grew indignant when I set down the rules, and she demanded to know what she would be able to do. Even though I sounded rather lame, I told her that she could help me figure out where I needed to go, how to get there, and stuff like that. I didn't want to give her the stupid reasons, like how I want her company, so I can talk with her, laugh with her, look at her. . .

And she's not even wearing that flowing robe anymore. Along with a light-weight sword and shield, Rauru gave Malon similar clothing to mine: pants, boots, an undershirt, and a tunic. We have the same types of pants and undershirts, since Rauru gave them to both of us, but our boots and tunics are different, and I really wish they weren't. I have the same boots and tunic as I did when I was younger, but Malon's boots aren't loose at all, and they go almost all the way to her knees, which I find embarrassing for some reason. And her brown tunic is also tighter, probably to make sure that everything stays covered if she moves around, and I blush thinking about that, too. I just can't stop looking at her sometimes, and I wonder if she notices.

It's getting a little late, but the shops are still open. A shopkeeper gives us the names of a few inns, and we head over to the cheapest one. I don't know what these temples are like, and whether I'll find money in them as I did on my adventures before; we have to be careful until I know for sure.

I remember the cheapest inn from when I was younger; the same woman who was so hospitable to me had expanded upon her generosity by transforming her home into lodging. As we step in, I spot the kind woman, and I'm about to step over to her to ask about vacancies when I'm grabbed from behind and pulled behind the kegs at the bar.

"We can't stay here," Malon says urgently. "We can't."

It takes me a few moments to process the words. "Wait, what do you mean?"

She just shakes her head. "We just can't. Let's try another inn."

"Malon, there's nothing wrong with this inn." I twist my neck so I can see the rest of the room. "The woman here is great, and it's the cheapest inn in town. Besides—Oh, no." Sitting at a table in the corner is Talon, downing what looks to be his fourth ale.

"I can't let him see me!" my friend hisses, but I can tell that her unease goes deeper than that. It's not as if we're avoiding some random monster or something. This is a loved one. And she's right; he can't see us. But this _is _the cheapest inn.

"I know," I say softly. "Let's find out if there are any vacancies, though, before we call it off."

"Link!"

"Well, it's not like we're going to walk right up to him, saying, 'Hi!' or anything. We're going to eat at a different table and sleep in a different room." I brush her hand away from my tunic, which makes me blush. I sort of want to leave it there.

"Malon, he's probably too drunk to recognize you," Navi points out kindly.

"I know, but what if he does anyway?" She shakes her head. "I don't want to take any chances."

I'm thinking about whether it's worth it to keep trying to convince Malon to take the chance when the innkeeper, the nice woman, walks right up to us, even though we're sort of hidden by the kegs. "Can I help you two youngsters this evening?" she asks nicely, although a little suspiciously. I can't blame her; in times like these, I wouldn't trust strangers either. And we're hiding behind the kegs. That's pretty strange.

"Um, yes," I say lamely. "We're looking for two rooms for the night." Malon won't even look at me. She's staring at some bottle of wine that's sitting behind the bar.

"Oh, I'm sorry, young man," the innkeeper says. "I'm afraid we have no vacancies for the night. The Yellow Dog has some, though, and their prices are reasonable."

"Thank you, ma'am," I say, smiling politely. After she walks away, I begin to walk towards the door, but Malon doesn't follow. Navi flits uncertainly. We're not going to stay here, so why is she still mad?

I walk back up to my friend and lead her to the door and out into the cool and hazy dusk that fell while quickly while we idled inside. The recommended inn is on the same side of town, and a minute and a small set of stairs bring us to the front desk. "A room for the night?" the host asks us courteously.

"Uh, two rooms," I say quickly, dropping my hand from around Malon's waist. Why didn't I notice that my hand was there before? Is that how I steered her across the streets and into this building? How many people have seen this, and how many will jump to the same conclusion as this man? And what worries me even more is that I'm not quite sure what that conclusion is, but I bet it has something to do with how I feel when I look at Malon.

The man hands me two keys and gives me two numbers, which I promptly forget as I hand over the rupees. As I walk towards the stairs with Malon following quietly, Navi whispers, "Rooms Seventeen and Eighteen," and I wonder what I would ever do without her. Soon, I'm in a small, but clean and tidy room, and I throw my pack on the bed before I join it. I frown; Malon has followed me into the room. My heart races for no real reason; I don't think that she's here to fight, but my pulse won't leave me the hell alone.

"Um, I need my key," she mumbles as she rubs her neck uncomfortably.

"Oh." My voice comes out flat as I blink. I look into my fist to find the key that I could have sworn I had handed to her at some point. Why am I in such a daze? I drop the key into Malon's open palm, but my fingertips brush her palm, and my skin tingles. I never noticed these sorts of things before.

After Malon leaves, I lie back and stare at the ceiling, as if the answers to everything are written in an ancient script in the plaster, and if I look long enough, I can decipher it all. Navi explores the corners, and by the way she's flying, I know it's out of boredom, and not out of curiosity or concern.

Or maybe she's just trying to think about what to say, since her voice interrupts my thoughts, as it has on so many occasions. "Link, what's up with you guys?" She pauses. "You seem more closed off than before, and Malon seems angrier." She pretends to examine a small lamp with a delicate rose design on the frosted glass. "I know things are bad with Ganondorf and everything, but instead of the two friends you guys were yesterday, you're both either fuming with anger or in some sort of dazed silence."

I don't know how to respond to her, so I just shake my head at her sadly as I get up to undress. I blow out all of the lamps except the one near the bed before moving towards the door to lock it. But I stop as my hand hits the cool metal of the latch, and I hold my breath.

I can hear the sound of muffled tears through the wooden walls. It's faint enough that I have to be silent to hear it clearly, but I recognize it from earlier today as Malon's sobs. Guilt sweeps over me, but I brush it aside; I'm not the one who did this to her. She has to be braver than this if she's going to come with me. I'm just as freaked out, just as nervous, and just as unhappy about being older, and about the world being in this terrible and different state, but I'm not crying about it. But shouldn't I keep the door unlatched, just in case something happens? What if she's being attacked and she needs to come into the room? No, that's farfetched. What if…what if she wants to come in because she needs me to comfort her? Guilt nearly brings me to my knees as that terrible feeling wells up into me, that feeling of pleasure at her misery driving her to need me, to need my comfort. To need my arms around her.

I lock the door before turning to that last lamp, the one with the decorative roses. I make sure Navi is comfortable in my hat, which sits on the chest of drawers, before I snuff it. I climb into the too-soft bed and wait for sleep to claim me, but it's not until a significant while later that Malon's tears fade out, and I can finally drift off.

* * *

Sorry for my laziness. I want to make sure that you guys are getting the version I want to write, not just another version of the cliché. Oh, and I can type with accents now because I added the Italian keyboard so I can better type compsitions. But anyway, I'm going to get going on my beta-reading as soon as I can; I have a lot of writing to do this week and next week for school!

Yes, I made Dampé's grave different. I thought it made more sense. Please don't review saying, "ZOMG, it's wrong!" and also, please don't review saying, "I know you said not to say this, but ZOMG it's wrong!" You're still saying it! Arg!

For all you Malon-Link fans, be patient, realistic, and thoughtful. I'm not trying to write a typical story. Yes, I'm trying to torture poor Link, but I think that makes sense, you know? Notice that he's not thinking about how badly he wants to kiss her or anything; hormones don't equal feelings, and he doesn't seem to really understand his hormones anyway. And I'm writing this excruciatingly long author's note because I'd rather get constructive criticism instead of criticism that stems from a misunderstanding of my purpose and my characterization. And I'm being bitter because I have TWO compositions for Italian due in nine hours.


	8. Stop thinking about food

I slowly float back to consciousness as my stomach growls. Where am I? What am I on? Why do I feel so tall? "So hungry," I mutter to myself, and the timbre of my voice leads yesterday's events back into my brain. I remember that I'm seventeen, in an inn, journeying with my friend, and very hungry.

But it's still dark in the room; the curtains on the small windows are drawn, but there's no light sneaking past the fabric or through the spaces. Navi snoozes quietly on the dresser, and I don't have the heart to wake her up. There's no sound from the room next to me, Malon's room.

The grandfather clock in the hallway tells me that I probably won't have breakfast for a while, since it's four in the morning. It serves me right for going to sleep so early, and without dinner. And I know that I have to buy more rations; that's something that Rauru didn't give us. He basically sent us to take out Ganondorf with basic weapons, clothes and…no, that's it. Smart guy.

So, it's too early to eat at the inn, it's too early to eat anywhere else, and I have no food with me. Somehow, this predicament seems much worse than it did when I was younger. Is this why adults eat so much? Goddesses, I could eat a whole…a whole…Who cares? I could eat a lot. My stomach murmurs something about oatmeal or some other breakfast food, and it feels as if the acid inside is digesting my internal organs. If Ganondorf were to show up right now and offer me pancakes in exchange for jumping off a cliff to my death, I think I might gladly sit down to my last meal. So hungry.

There's only one solution to this horrible torture that I'm feeling in my digestive tract: I have to sleep it off. I climb back under the quilts and sigh; it's not that I usually fall asleep instantaneously, but I was sort of hoping that would happen now. Bah. I can always think about boring things, like the time Talon was all, "Let's see if you can win my Super Cucco Game _five times in a row!" _

But thinking about that horrible, mind-numbing game (did he know that he had put tags on the "super" cuccos' ankles?) makes me think about the whole reason I found the ranch in the first place: a little girl who helped me get into the castle. And she isn't so little any more, is she? Oh man, maybe she's awake right now, and just as starving as I am. Crap, **stop thinking about food.** Go back, go back, before food. Malon was before food.

I would groan, but again, Navi's asleep. Malon. What the hell is wrong with us? Navi posed a great question to me before I went to sleep, and somehow it didn't keep me up all night. Maybe it just took its time before it woke me up so I could think about it. I hear a gurgle from my stomach, though, and immediately begin to think about it. I need something, _anything _to distract me from the hole in my abdomen.

What's different now? Up until this point, Navi and I have been traveling alone, and we've been working alone. Malon's been there for me, but she's always been at the ranch. I've never had this problem before, where someone else is insisting to help me, or to do things with me. I know it's not fair to make assumptions, but I really doubt that Malon could handle what I have to do. It's not because she's a girl. I wouldn't trust anyone.

Girl. The thought sends shivers down my spine, although I'm quite warm. Since when did girls make me feel so strange? When I was very young, there was no real difference between boys and girls, except that you weren't supposed to see each other naked. And that sort of concept was maintained throughout my time in Kokiri Forest. It wasn't until I started getting out for a change that I learned that we were supposed to _feel _a certain way about the differences between boys and girls. I was specifically taught that you did **not **want girls to touch you because they were icky, and you were supposed to tease them.

I didn't understand these rules that I played by whenever I was at Kakariko or Castle Town, but I didn't play by them when I was at the ranch. I figured Malon was worth the cooties. But now, things were so different, and yet nothing had changed. I can't reach out and touch Malon's arm without feeling as if I'm doing something forbidden or illegal. But at the same time, when I succeed, and she doesn't pull away, it's like some sort of triumph, a victory. And when she touches me, I wish there were more reasons for the contact to exist.

And it's not even the touching. Why is it so weird to look at her? I'm not an idiot; below the face and above the legs are definitely bad places to look. Some old guy taught me that in Kakariko one day, and explained why. But when I'm looking at her legs, or her hair, I feel an intense and burning shame. Were these also off-limit places that the man failed to warn me about?

There's no mistake about it; these differences are keeping us from being the friends we used to be. And between the awkwardness and Malon's insistence that she do everything with me, this task is going to suck. But at least Malon's not in some sort of institution. She might be crazy in some way, but not _that _kind of crazy.

My mind begins to drift to what might be coming up next. Malon wrote down the five locations of the temples, and from Sheik's really obvious hint, I knew that we'd be heading home soon. My home. I wonder what my old friends will think of me now. I definitely wonder what Mido will think. Haha, I should totally pull him up by the front of his tunic and ask him if he's feeling so big now.

I frown a little. They're all still going to be kids, aren't they? Kids forever, that's what we learned. But why am I not a kid anymore? Is it because Rauru messed with things so I could be the Hero of Time? Is that even possible? But if that's the case, why wait seven years? He said that he'd been waiting for me to be old enough, but I shouldn't have aged. Great, now I'm not only at odds with my best friend, but I'm having an identity crisis. I have to think about something else.

While my whole growing-up issue keeps cropping up, I manage to shift most thought into buying supplies. I black out as I realize that I don't know how much money I have left.

* * *

Sorry for the long wait. I have been very lazy, I suppose. Three weeks or so left of classes, then reading period, and then exams. My freshman year of college ends on May 12th, after my. . . Shakespeare exam? Whatever. 

Yeah, this chapter is rather short. One reason I wrote it is because I realized that I had sent Link and Malon to bed at about 8 pm or so, and that they didn't eat. I might regret giving Link so much to think about, but let's be honest; he can be a little dense.I have four files to beta, and I shall get to them as soon as possible! I'm wicked busy tomorrow and this week, but I'll see what I can do.


	9. Homecoming

The Chamber of Sages melts away, and I fall ass-first to the ground. I blink several times as light pours into my eyes; I've just spent a good three days inside of a temple, and it isn't exactly wonderfully bright in the Chamber of Sages either. I can feel tears forming, and I keep telling myself that they're from all this sunlight. I force my eyes open so they can adjust, and the first thing I see is the stump where Saria used to sit.

So now my tears are only partly from the sunlight. Saria had commented on how brave I was being just moments ago, as she wept. I so badly wanted to tell her that I wasn't being brave; I was just too embarrassed to join her. As much as all of this mess sucks, this really hits home. Did it really take me this long to realize that things will never be the same? Saria's house is going to be empty, and then someone else might move in. Maybe if I tell everyone that she's a Sage, they'll turn it into a museum or a sanctuary.

I quickly wipe the wetness from my face, and now my sleeve feels sticky and uncomfortable. Saria's safe, and the temple is cleared out, right? That's what I came here to do, and I did it. I put those ghosts to rest, and I successfully pissed off Ganonforf a little bit. My teeth grind together slightly when I remember hearing his voice again. Bah, someday he'll learn that it's not just that his minions are incompetent; I just kick ass.

Navi hurries back to me as I push myself into a standing position. "Check it out!" she says excitedly. "There aren't any more moblins in the hedge maze!" She speeds back towards the exit, beckoning for me to follow. How can she be this excited? Silly fairies. I follow her anyway; this is pretty good news considering that I almost lost an arm when I first entered the maze. Those guys are really hard to dodge, and those spears are very, very, **very **sharp. I rub my right arm absentmindedly.

As I walk down the path where the club-wielding moblin used to hang out, I see Navi fly over the maze again, double-checking to make sure that I won't accidentally stumble upon an unfriendly face (or spear). In my experience, clearing out the Great Deku Tree, Dodongo's Cavern, or Jabu-icky-Jabu didn't have any effect on the number of monsters I faced once back in the open. Maybe there was something different about these monsters. Maybe Ganondorf had placed them in the way, possibly to keep anyone from reaching the temple. Now that he'd lost his hold on Saria and the Forest Temple, he would be utilizing his resources better elsewhere. Oh, great, that means wherever I go next, doesn't it?

"Come on, Link," Navi shouts from across the hedges. "Let's get back to the village. Malon's probably convinced that you're dead."

Malon. I shake my head. We parted on _horrible _terms those few days ago, and it's not as if things were better before. We hardly spoke at the inn before we headed to the Kokiri Forest, and what little awkward conversation we managed during the long walk ended as soon as the ranch came into sight. When I tried to keep talking, Navi brutally pinched my ear. Or at least she says she pinched it, but I think she bit it, which is disgusting.

We were reluctant to spend a night on the field, but we weren't going to make it to the forest. Malon was afraid of being ambushed while we slept, and she wanted to sneak into the forest anyway; earlier, I had told her that there were no gates or guards at the entrance. But I knew how the Kokiri felt about outsiders, and I doubted they would recognize me. Things might have changed in the past seven years, I pointed out, and the last thing we wanted was to be ambushed anyway.

To our surprise, no stalchildren appeared after sundown, and although we knew that a lack of stalchildren might mean the presence of something worse, we managed a small campfire, which we used to cook some of our newly purchased rations. I wasn't broke, thankfully, but I was definitely counting on finding treasure in the temple. I did, and lots of it. My wallet jingles happily as I exit the maze through the iron gate.

It was a good thing that we had waited for daylight to pay a visit to the Kokiri. While we wouldn't have been ambushed by ten-year-old kids with sticks, we might have preferred that to the gigantic deku baba. After it nearly tore off my head, Malon delivered a spectacular blow that completely decapitated the damn thing. As we made our way through the deserted, monster-infested village, she continued to hack and slice wonderfully, although it was clear from her technique that she was still in the "swing wildly" phase. At first I thought that her ability was a good thing, but as soon as we reached my house, and she destroyed the giant deku baba there, it turned out that it was just going to make everything worse.

While the monsters had kept my mind occupied while we wove through them, once we were safely inside my old tree house, I began to feel terribly ill. Navi, too, was silent, and she wasn't glowing nearly so much. Malon, cheery from her demonstration of mad skills, was looking at her appearance in the mirror. Had the circumstances been different, I might have criticized her, but I knew she wasn't being vain. I had spent a good hour staring at myself in the mirror in my room at the inn. It's still difficult to see that person in the mirror and not have to remind yourself that it's a reflection, not a portrait of some stranger.

It was so hard to feel seventeen, harder than it had been in the past couple of days. I had spent ten years here, being a kid. It was nice to only be worried about Mido, and not about getting out of somewhere alive. This bed was the bed of a child, not an adult. And I wasn't a child anymore, was I?

Honestly, Malon picked a bad time. She started to glance at me with a proud grin on her face. Finally, when she realized that I wasn't reacting, she began to ask if I was impressed with how she had handled herself. I answered honestly, that she had definitely improved, and I was really happy about it. Although I was feeling sad, I did make sure that she knew I wasn't just saying the words. Hey, she really did do very well!

But then she asked, once again, if she could go with me. She pleaded and begged, and all of that. Of _course _she couldn't go with me, though! And I told her that. I mean, there's more to these places than cutting off the heads of these giant monster flowers. And there are some parts where only one person can get through, or get to the next room. What kind of idiot would I be if I let her come with me, only to leave her behind? And so we fought. She called me selfish and proud, and I called her immature and ignorant. It didn't go so well.

I stormed out and almost got eaten by another deku baba. It became clear, as I tried to walk off my anger, that the reason the village was empty was because it _really _wasn't safe to be outside. And so I walked into the nearest building and discovered a small group of Kokiri. They explained to me what had gone on; apparently, the monsters started appearing when the Great Deku Tree passed away. Guilt washed over me; why couldn't I have saved him? And it was these Kokiri that offered Malon a place to stay if I could try to clear up the Forest Temple, which is what Saria had gone to do before she disappeared. I sent Navi back to tell Malon to stay in the village and only leave for food, and when she returned, we rushed off to the Lost Woods.

Now, we're strolling out of it, following the subtly marked trees that prevented Kokiri from disappearing off the face of Hyrule. Mido is now walking with us; I'm giving him the short version of what happened, that Saria's a Sage, and the Forest Temple is clear again. Mido still doesn't trust me, since my tunic is Kokiri, and Navi refuses to interact with his fairy. I don't know why I'm keeping my identity such a secret, especially since I doubt that Mido would be surprised. He practically recognizes me already.

We come out of the final line of trees to see the full sprawl of the village. The four of us gasp; all of the monsters have disappeared as well. Mido is incredibly excited. "This is fantastic, Mister!" he shouts. "This means that finally the Great Deku Tree is reborn!"

"Reborn?" I ask stupidly, and Navi snorts. What, was I supposed to know about this?

But Mido still thinks I have no knowledge of the Kokiri, so he's not as judgmental. "The Great Deku Tree protects us from any monsters," he explains with a patience I never knew he had. "Seven years ago, the Great Deku Tree was cursed, and that kid I told you about tried to save him. But he died anyway, and the kid ran away. Soon after that, the protection had worn off, and monsters started to appear." He has no idea that I know most of this. "But now, the monsters are gone, which means we have a new protector!" He begins to rush down the slope, and I see the other Kokiri running from their homes towards the Great Deku Tree's meadow. "Bye, Mister, and thanks!" That's his last shout as he joins the quickly moving and disappearing throng.

Navi sighs. "Well, at least he's accepted that you didn't kill the Great Deku Tree," she points out. "Are you ever going to tell them who you are?" From the tone of her voice, I know she wishes that I would; she's been unable to communicate with the other fairies here, and I know that she has friends whom she hasn't seen since we left.

"I don't think so," I sigh. "Maybe they'll find out someday, or the new Great Deku Tree will tell them. But we have things to do."

"You're right," she says sadly. "How long do you plan on staying? They'll probably be with the new guardian all day and all night."

"We'll definitely take a long break today, so I guess we'll head off in the morning." My legs are much stronger now than they were when I was ten, but if I can grab a break now, I will without question.

As I reach the ladder to my door, I begin to worry about Malon's reaction. I can tell that Navi is nervous, too; I can see her biting her nails a little bit. But it's not as if I can just leave, or stay somewhere else. The Kokiri allowed us to stay here because it was deserted, not because they're so hospitable to strangers. I take a deep breath and climb. Is it so weird that I'm more scared of Malon's response than I was of anything I faced in that temple?

I reach the top of the ladder, and I stand on the landing uncomfortably. The tears on my sleeve have dried, and the stiff fabric is annoying me. Why do I feel so weak when things like this happen? I shake my head, and I reach forward to push aside what serves as my door. But when the curtain moves, it's not because I touched it. Instead, Malon comes rushing out at me, and we almost topple off of the landing as she hugs me. "Goddesses, I thought you'd died!" she cries.

I hug her back awkwardly. "Nah, you can't get rid of me," I say, trying to break this strange moment with some bad joking and such. "It usually takes a few days to take care of these things." I manage to unwind her arms as we head back inside. Once my eyes adjust once again, this time to a dimmer light, I realize that Malon must have been incredibly bored; the entire room is spotless. When we first arrived, even though I had left the house clean, it was slightly musty and unkempt. The Kokiri had mentioned that Saria used to clean it every so often, but in recent weeks, she hadn't had the chance.

Now, any clutter that I had left sitting out haphazardly had been straightened up or put away, something that Saria hadn't done. After she was awakened, she mentioned to me sheepishly that she missed me so much that she had intentionally left most everything in its place. Malon, of course, didn't hold such strong sentiments about this place, and if I didn't already know I was at the right address, I might think I had it wrong.

"Yeah, I figured I'd do a little housekeeping," Malon mentions proudly. "It's something that I _know _I'm better at than you are." She's smirking and wiping the tears from her eyes at the same time. It's so strange to see such different expressions at the same time. The smirk makes me want to chuckle at her; I see her as my best friend. But she's so _feminine _as she delicately uses her index finger to push away her tears. I lose myself for a moment looking at her, only snapping out of it when she asks, "Well, what next, fearless leader?"

* * *

I swear, I'm alive. This chapter is more of a transition to get us back from pre-dungeon action to post-dungeon action, which is how the first three chapters were set up. It's much more fun to write about what happens afterward instead of beforehand. The only issue now is that Link doesn't just go back to the ranch; we have to wonder what Malon does, too. But yeah, please let me know how you like it. 

We're moving on to a different type of development, if you didn't pick up on it. We'll come back to Link's issues with responsibility, but it's a little different now. But it will be addressed, I swear. Right now, though, I'm trying to get a little deeper with him, as well as Malon, and I'm trying to decide between two very different (and yet similar) endings.

Please review! I might be spoiled from _Just a Farm Girl, _but I wonder what happened to the great audience I had then. I know some of you are still with me, which is fantastic. Thank you! And for everyone sitting there, saying, "I want romance, you silly author," just remember that I **love **romance, but only if it's done tastefully, and only if there's a build-up and such. Come on, you're noticing it, right? Welcome to a different kind of tension.

The next chapter is done, actually. It's a little bit different in terms of taking artistic license with the game plot. I was also sort of inspired by an episode of House, MD (zomg, did anyone watch Euphoria? I CRIED!), but only because it made sense. Please review and stick with me as I try to write a story that can hold its own against _Just a Farm Girl!_


	10. It's just an arm

The Sages were kind enough to heal me before sending me back to the crater. I guess they didn't realize what would happen now that the Temple and the crater are returning to normal. I find myself back in the center of the crater, dangerously close to the lava, and there's a terribly foreboding rumbling coming from everywhere.

"What the hell is that?" Navi asks. "Where is that coming from?"

"I have no idea," I reply. "I mean, I …"

But I'm starting to have a clue about what's going on. I am, after all, in a crater. And while Death Mountain has been dormant for years, there _has _just been a serious amount of evil … evilness? Yeah, evilness. There's been a serious amount of evilness hanging out in the Temple for the past seven years, and there was that freaky looking fiery cloud, too. When you create a huge change in a place so quickly, there is a quick and equally huge reaction.

The volcano is experiencing a slight wake-up call.

Navi is tugging at my tunic as I push myself up as quickly as I can. I rush to the bridge and totally almost forget that the bridge is out. I rush back off the bridge, knowing that if I fumble for my hookshot while the crater is shaking, I might just fall to my death. Navi's shouting for me to hurry, and I am, but everything happens much too quickly. I guess the volcano had been about to erupt as soon as we relanded in Hyrule.

I am being pelted with rocks and rocks. They hit me around my shoulders mostly, and I throw my hands up to protect my head. Navi is just sort of screaming incoherently, but I don't really think there's much she can say or do that will help me right now. "Get out of here!" I shout at her, knowing that I'm just being noble, but I really can't think of anything else. The rocks are falling more, and they're getting larger, too. For the first time, I really don't think I know what I'll do to get out of this.

I have one hand over my head and one rummaging through my stuff, trying to find the hookshot. I pull out the Megaton Hammer. Since there's no one else in the vicinity, I feel absolutely fine about swearing as loudly as I can. I stuff it back into the pack as quickly as I can, and then I reach up to slap away the next rock. I feel something in my wrist crack, and the heat coming from the rock is incredible. I have _got _to get the hell out of here.

I start rummaging with both hands, and that's the last thing I remember before everything goes dark.

The next thing I'm aware of is a pounding headache. It feels as if someone is taking that useless Megaton Hammer and striking me with it. But now I'm also aware of a softness beneath me that is making up for the aches and pains that I feel around my neck and shoulders.

I open my eyes, but my vision swims a little initially. I can make out basic details easily enough; there's a single torch high up on the wall that provides a dim light, and there is a table across from me, pressed against the wall. I see some shapes on it, but in this light and with my current ability to see, I don't know what those shapes are. But I do know that this is a guest room in Goron City. I remember staying in a room like this those weeks … years ago, when I was clearing out Dodongo's Cavern.

I painfully turn my neck to the left, and I'm met with the gap between the bed and the wall. So much for interesting. And so, grinning grimly, I force my neck to turn back to its original position, and then farther, until I'm facing the right side.

There is another bed beside me, and I blink slowly. Who would be here? The lump under the sheets shifts as I stare, and I am soon face to face with a sleeping Malon. Wow, I'm stupid. But I continue to stare. It has been a week since I've seen her. Or more; I don't know what day it is right now. The last thing I remember was that the Megaton Hammer failed to help me.

Even with my slight visual impairment, I can see her relatively clearly; the bed is very close to mine. I see her hair shining strangely in the torchlight; it's greasy. Dark circles glare from under her eyes, and she looks unhappy. I consider waking her. I mean, come on, I want to know what happened. I want to know how she held out during the week I was in the Temple. I want to know things. But no, I can't wake her. Obviously, she hasn't been sleeping well.

As I watch her, she shifts again. I stiffen; what if she wakes up and gets mad at me for staring at her? I can't turn my next back quickly; it hurts way too much. So I keep staring, hoping and praying that Malon is still sleeping as she tosses and turns slightly. As she moves around, her arm slips out from underneath the sheets. It dangles almost dangerously in front of me.

It's just an arm. It is _so _just an arm. Why do I find it so strange and fascinating? It's not as if I haven't seen Malon's _bare arm _before. Well, have I? I don't think I have since we grew up. But who cares, right? It's just Malon's bare arm.

I can't look away, and it's not because my neck hurts. I find this arm painfully pleasant to look at. The color of her skin, the angle of her elbow … I don't know if it's a combination of details or not. My face is burning with embarrassment, even if no one is around or awake to witness my shame (I figure Navi is asleep under my hat somewhere). I don't know what my problem is. I wish I knew why I'm so caught up in looking at Malon. I burn with shame more; I'm not just looking at Malon, but at her body. Why her body is so pleasant and important, I have no idea, but I hate the thought of objectifying my friend like this.

I must have fallen asleep because now I'm opening my eyes to a lighter room and an empty bed. My blinking becomes uncontrollable for a moment, but then I can look around more easily. My vision seems better, although my headache doesn't, and I see that more torches line the walls to create a sufficient amount of light. And now I recognize the shapes on the table as our packs. Everything makes more sense in the light.

I force myself to sit up, and maybe stand if I can accomplish sitting. My right wrist can't hold my weight (which I learn when I feel an incredibly sharp pain), so I have to push myself up using only my left hand. Once I'm sitting up, I almost fall back down; I feel so dizzy that I think I'm going to throw up. I groan slightly, but soon I feel better. I feel slightly chilly, and I look down to see that the covers and sheets have fallen down as I sat up, and my bare chest is exposed. It's also bruised. How did that happen?

As I sit in bed, confused, I hear a familiar fluttering as Navi meanders into the room. She must be coming in to check on me, since she looks straight at me upon entering. "Hi," I say, and my voice is slightly broken.

She squeals, and my headache reaches new levels of pain. Before I can snap at her (honestly, what happened to just saying, "Hi," back?), she practically zooms out of the room. While Navi is my close friend, sometimes I just want to find a racquet and slap her around a bit. But I probably annoy the snot out of her, too, right? Hey, I know I'm not perfect. I'm awesome, but never have I even thought I was perfect. Okay, _maybe _I thought I was perfect that time when I managed to defeat a Stalfos without even getting a scratch, but Navi already beat me down for it.

While I sit, waiting for Navi (I figure she'll come back), I stare at the walls around me. At first, I think that my head must be wicked messed up; the hieroglyphics that grace the top part of the walls all seem to dance in the firelight. But when I look back at the packs on the table, they're standing as still as can (and should) be. Is there something wrong with me, or something wrong with the wall?

But then Navi rushes back in, and she nearly knocks me backwards as she hugs me around the neck. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she says breathlessly. "I felt so bad for leaving you there, although there was nothing I could have done. And you were right, I –"

"Whoa, whoa," I interrupt. "Don't worry about it, okay?" Wow, she seems pretty emotional right now. "Everything's fine, so please, don't worry." I clear my throat a couple of times, to get rid of what's accumulated while I was unconscious.

Navi unlatches herself from my neck and pulls back to look me in the eye. "Well, anyway, it's good to see that you don't seem to be sustaining any lasting damage." Her voice goes lower in volume as she says, "Malon was worried sick, you know. She had been so excited for you to be getting back, but man, she was so upset, and she even …." But she's suddenly silent.

While she'd been talking, footsteps had been approaching, and now Malon is entering the room. She doesn't seem to have heard Navi. Instead, her eyes are bright when she sees me, and I feel very warm as she smiles. She rushes over, and I think she's actually going to hug me. My heart starts going nuts, and I can't breathe. But as she's standing next to me, arms almost outstretched, she stops; her facial expression is too hard for me to read. After a moment, she just sighs heavily, and I feel the normal change in blood pressure that occurs after I get really nervous. And it's not that I didn't want to have her hug me. No, the idea of her arms around me clouds my mind.

She then sits beside me on the bed, staring almost shyly at my hand, which is resting on top of the blankets. "Link, I was so worried." I realize that Navi has actually left the room; I see her faint glow move out into the hall. The word "alone" rings in my mind.

"I'm sorry, Malon," I tell her sincerely. I mean, I don't know how it's my fault that I got stuck in an eruption, but still, I'm the one who worried her. "I tried to get out; I really did."

She nods. "Navi told me what happened. When she showed up to get help, a bunch of the Gorons found some lumber and quickly managed to build a bridge to get to you."

I smile as the image of a heavy Goron walking slowly along a two-by-four comes to mind. "It must have been quite a sight to see them basically tightrope-walking to get me."

She's silent, and I realize that this was definitely the wrong thing to say. For some reason, I think that never have I said anything worse.

"Link, even though the lumber was more than a two-by-four, the Gorons were too heavy to test the strength. I mean, it was an emergency."

"Well then, what …." But I finally get it. I feel my face drain and then refill with blood. _Malon _had to rush over the bridge and pull me to safety. Say something, Link. Say something to make her feel better! "Wow," is all the eloquence I can muster.

"Yeah, well," she starts, but she either forgets what she's going to say, or she doesn't have anything in mind. I realize that not only am I unsatisfied with my response, but I've disappointed Malon, too.

"No," I say suddenly, although no one is disagreeing with anyone. Malon's confused, too; she looks up at me with a questioning look. "Malon, thank you so much. You … you didn't have to do what you did." She looks as if she's going to interrupt and disagree with me. "No, seriously. You put yourself in terrible danger." I remember being in the crater, knowing that I was equipped to save myself, as well as capable, but unable to do so. "I mean, I almost didn't get out. And I wouldn't have if you hadn't risked your own life."

She blushes deeply and looks at my hand again. "Well, Link, when you put it that way …" she says, and I can hear a smile in her voice.

I grin, although she doesn't see it. "So, are you okay? Did you get hurt when you went in?"

"Eh, not so much, surprisingly," she says offhandedly. "I ran in as fast as I could, so I dodged a lot of rocks, and even though it was slower coming back, I just got really lucky. In fact, my only major complaint is that I'm sore from carrying you."

I blink. "Carrying?" Did she really carry me?

She looks at me carefully, and I am beginning to see that this look means that I had better think about my answer. "What, do you think I'm not strong?"

"No," I answer immediately as I try to think of how to recover. "I don't know why I said that," I say lamely.

She seems okay with my answer. I'm still shocked that she carried me across an unstable wooden bridge during an eruption. "So, am I sustaining any horrible damage?"

She shakes her head. "Not really. You have a concussion and a fractured wrist, but otherwise, you just have a lot of contusions all over. When I got to you, you were on your back, and I'm just relieved you didn't get hit in the face with any rocks."

"Did anything get ruined during the eruption? I feel like I should help rebuild anything that was destroyed by lava or rocks."

Malon shakes her head. "Don't worry; it wasn't a full-on eruption. Just a lot of rocks. The Gorons are already rebuilding the bridges that were damaged, but everything else is fine."

And so we discuss the events of the past day, as well as the past week. While I was cleaning out the Temple and saving Gorons, Malon was babysitting for Link-goro, Darunia's son. Even after other Gorons returned, Link-goro had followed her around. He seemed very interested in me and my adventures, and Malon's tone as she recounts Link-goro's persistent questions make me feel that beyond animals, she's not very happy being a babysitter.

We cannot leave the city for a few days; the Gorons clearly had no reason to restock their store while they were all being held prisoner, and so they have no red potions. There's not much that can be done for me until the shipment arrives, since my wrist is wrapped, and there's nothing to be done for bruising and concussions at the moment. So we fill the hours talking about nothing in particular. Navi is quieter than usual, although I never notice this until after Malon and I finish a conversation for whatever reason. She looks as if she knows something important, and I wish she'd tell me what was wrong.

Something that _is _wrong is that we're sleeping in real beds for the time being. And since we're in no hurry to go anywhere when we wake up, Malon has been sleeping in her underwear. It drives me nuts when she strips down to her little white tank top and short, white pants that are terribly body-hugging. She's taken a bath, too, and her previously greasy hair shines as she throws it over her shoulder. I wonder if she even has a clue as to how much this affects me. I can't decide whether it's torture or heaven.

One night, it occurs to me that she's beautiful.

Finally, after three long days of me being confined to my bed (thanks a lot, Malon), the shipment of red potions is in. I grin widely as I hear Malon shouting violently at the ever slow Gorons as she tries to get them to open the first box faster, for Goddess' sake. Navi is flying about, anxious to get moving; this has to be the fifth time she's checked the packs, even though we won't be leaving right away. I've insisted on taking a bath before we go, and the Gorons also are going to give us provisions and gifts for saving them. I hope that the gifts _are _bombs and _are not _rocks. Rocks are not only useless, but now slightly traumatizing.

I hear a cry of triumph, and a lazy call of "Careful, miss," from a Goron; I can't help but laugh. And soon enough, Malon comes rushing in with an open package of bottles filled to the brim with one of the vilest substances that has even existed. She almost falls and drops the box as she skids to a stop in our room, and then she set the package extra carefully on the table. "I know what you're thinking, and I knew I wasn't going to drop it," she says teasingly.

"I almost wish you had," I admit. "This stuff tastes so terrible, I'd _rather _go on with a concussion and a fractured wrist."

She carries over an open bottle. "Yeah, well, you've got no choice. You _can't _go on injured, so then we'd be stuck here forever. And I don't know about you," she says with a little more sincerity, handing me the bottle, "but the hieroglyphics here are freaking me out. I thought I was going crazy until Link-goro took a break from jabbering about you to explain that the movement was a trick of the firelight."

I laugh at her before holding my nose with one hand, and tipping the potion into my mouth with the other. Truth is, I thought I was going crazy, too. But here I am, being an ass, and making her think that I knew all along, and that she's just not very smart. But she _is _smart. Who the hell could guess that it was an optical illusion? Stupid Gorons, good Goddesses.

Even though the holding-nose technique usually works, it's as if the potion can get around it. It's so strong, that it burns the back of my throat and nose as I gulp it down. If this stuff weren't so amazing, I wouldn't be drinking it. I was kidding before; I know that I have to drink it, and it's definitely better than waiting around here longer. Even though spending so much time with Malon is incredibly fun, I haaaaaaate it here. I'm ready to move on.

As soon as I finish off the last of the potion, my vision sharpens greatly. I had no idea that my vision was still so impaired until now. The headache vanishes, and I see the bruises on my chest fade nearly immediately. It hurts as my wrist begins to heal, but it's all over in a matter of seconds. I look at Malon and grin. "See you after my bath," I say, and she blushes so quickly, I can't help but notice. She stares at the hieroglyphics again as she tells me to have fun, and don't drown.

The words say she's fine, but how can she be fine? She's turned the same color as the potion, to be honest. Navi snickers, and I don't think that's very fair. I'm sure Malon's not turning red on purpose. It's kind of cute, though. Cute? I need a bath.

After my bath, we're on our way down the mountain. I feel so free as I breathe in the fresh air, and the wind tries to take my hat off my head. Malon, saying that she can't afford to have her hair in her face, has put it up, and it's incredibly distracting. I can't stop staring at it whenever I "accidentally" look in her direction. She's made two braids which are crossed over her head and pinned down. It's beautiful.

And so we're off to check out Zora's Domain. Navi figured that since we discovered the first two Temples by visiting the places where I found the first two Spiritual Stones, we need to check out the watering hole of Hyrule. Just as before, with the Kokiri Forest and Lost Woods, there are no more monsters on the mountain. And just as before, the weather has really gotten nicer. Even if I didn't have to save Hyrule, even if I weren't this Hero of Time, I'd want to make things right. Malon's smiling as she spots a few birds flying overhead. I'm not the only one who likes the change.

* * *

Oh man, finally! Funny story. This chapter was insanely difficult to write. Originally, I had Link leaving the crater (no eruption) and being severely burned. That was going to be the House reference (episode in Season 2 where the kid is WICKEDLY burned), but I kept running into the same little problems. I told my friends that I wanted Link to be badly burned in the crater, and he had to be in enough pain for him to become unconscious. The first problem was that I originally had Ganondorf set a trap for Link. There were two problems with this: 1) Ganondorf doesn't think Link is really a threat for, oh, the entire game, so why would he care now? And 2) if Link was skilled enough not to sustain any serious burns in the Fire Temple, where he would be ambushed by fiery enemies and random walls of fire, why would he not be skilled enough to dodge a fire enemy or a fire wall? And my second problem was that I couldn't use lava to burn Link because 1) I need him _alive _and 2) the degree of the burns sustained from lava would be so high that the nerve endings would die. Link wouldn't feel any pain, and he also wouldn't have ARMS. 

I finally came up with this _much _better scenario. I did have to sacrifice my House reference for the chapter, but that's all right. Oh, OH, but the story isn't over yet.

I had written this chapter about three or four times before I finally came up with the eruption idea. By the time I had this better idea, I was sick of writing the chapter. The first time I wrote the chapter with the final method of Link-hurting, it was crap. I tried to go in and add in references that I had forgotten, but it was still crap. I deleted everything that happened after Link goes unconscious. Then I made myself sit down and pretend I hadn't written the chapter five times already. Finally, I think it came out well enough to upload.

So maybe it was a blessing that the site **wouldn't let me upload **the chapter until today. I swear, it knew that my chapter was crap.

Important things to remember:  
1. Malon isn't going to be going into the Temples with Link. Link has one of every item, and they can't share everything. "Okay, I'll toss you the hookshot!" "Link, next time we have a hookshot, throw it _over _the bottomless pit, not _in _it. Do we have a reset button?"

2. I keep getting comments that are something like, "You write really well! I can't wait until you write about the dungeons because people don't usually write those well." People don't write those well because you _can't. _Writing a dungeon is writing a walkthrough, not a fanfic. There is no character development in dungeons. I won't be going into the dungeons (an exception might be Ganon's Castle and Tower, butI won't bedetailing the rooms).

3. Thank you all so much for reading! And thank you to those who have been reviewing. Your reviews inspire me to keep writing, and to keep writing at the best of my ability. Nothing is too good for you all. Thank you!


	11. Girl talk, girl issues

Malon is not going to be happy.

Navi is reassuring me that it's not anyone's fault that Malon's going to kill me. It's just that I have the most terrible luck in Hyrule sometimes, and one of those times is now. Therefore, according to her reasoning, I need to pray to the Goddesses to grant me good luck, namely that Malon be in a great mood today.

At the moment, I'm trying not to freeze to death in the frigid waters of Zora's Domain. It's hard to keep myself from dying while I try to think of how to deal with the wrath of my friend when I catch up with her. Navi suggests, "Maybe those iron things will keep you from slipping," and so I strap the new attachments to my boots. As Navi thought, I no longer am slipping back and forth on the slick icy floats. The only problem now is that I have to remove the damn things every time I need to reach another float. This sucks.

I finally reach the altar where Jabu-Jabu used to sit. I vividly remember the stench of living, pulsating flesh surrounding me on all sides, and the feel of tentacles wrapped around my arm, sending electricity through my body. Navi must remember it all, too; she's hanging around me, but she's making a point of staying on the side of my body that isn't facing the altar.

I'm jolted back to reality I move from the ice float to the shallow water, where I know I can walk easily. My boots are very durable, but not totally water-proof; there is now a small layer of freezing water inside. And with every step, more water finds its way into my footwear, and it also splashes all over me. The Great Fairy was kind enough to give me a heavy fur-lined jacket before I headed off to the cavern. Even so, I still feel as if even my bones are frozen, and I wonder if I'll ever feel warm again.

As I carefully walk back to where we saw the frozen King Zora, I'm glad that Navi reminded me to take some more of this crazy blue fire back with me. It's not that I didn't make the connection; as soon as I saw the red ice in the cavern, I figured I'd be able to save King Zora with the same fire. But I was so ready to leave that I almost forgot to take one more bottle of the fire with me.

For a moment, though, I would like to ask: what the hell is with this blue fire and red ice? What is the point? There is no point. I can't even think of a joke one.

When we reach King Zora, I carefully unplug the bottle with the curious fire in it, and I dump it around his feet. I carefully let myself over to the small platform where I know I have to stand; otherwise King Zora won't see me, since he's too heavy to shift that much. I watch as steam hisses away from the King's body, and Navi whispers to me, "I hope he's still alive." I hope so, too; otherwise, I won't get too much help from him, and then I'll have to do something with his body. Please, _please _be alive.

The King's slumped body begins to stir, and Navi and I both let out huge sighs of relief. If the country weren't in such a state of emergency, I'd say we were being rude. But the King just blinks and stares at me for a few moments before saying, "My Goddesses, you've saved me!" He doesn't look the least bit ungrateful, and I nearly slip off the little platform in shock. I didn't know that appreciative Zoras existed until now.

"Um, it's nothing, Your Majesty," I say awkwardly. I'm not prepared for this sort of gratitude, and I glance to Navi to see if she can help me out. Unfortunately, she's staring at the King in shock, too, so I'm sort of on my own with nothing to say.

King Zora is shaking his head. "Oh, no, it's not nothing, young man! I was slowly dying until you rescued me. I need to reward you for your generous nature." And then to my great shock, King Zora lifts himself up and begins to walk past me and down towards the lower levels of the domain.

Once he's out of earshot, which doesn't take nearly as much time as anyone would have guessed; I mean, seven years ago, he took five minutes to move a few feet. "What the hell?" exclaims Navi, and I just shrug at her before heading down to follow the King.

After many, many thanks from the King, as well as a new tunic (Navi apparently can breathe underwater already; who knew?), Navi and I head out of the waterfall at the top of the river. It's already getting warmer as we leave; now that I've cleared out the cavern, things should be returning to normal in the domain. I fold the jacket as best I can before stuffing it into my pack; I need to start loading things up with Malon so I can have room for everything I need.

Now that I'm older, it won't take as long to get to civilization for the night. Last time I was leaving the domain, it took me all day to get to the ranch. But now my legs are longer, and we're heading to Kakariko Village, not Lon Lon Ranch; it should still take the better part of the afternoon, but that's okay.

There are still a few octoroks as we head down the grassy slopes, since they've always lived in the rivers. I jump out of the way of one of their flying rocks as Navi and I discuss Malon.

"Link, it's not your fault that she's going to be mad. I mean, you were only trying to keep her safe."

"I know, I know," I respond. "But she hates it when I treat her like this. I know she's strong and capable, but it's not as if I knew it would only take about two hours to kick that place into shape." I sigh heavily as I nearly slip on slick grass. "I just hope she'll understand."

"Well, to be honest, it's not as if you're going to be doing anything else today," Navi points out. "By the time we get to Kakariko, she'll have been there for a couple hours, and then we'll need a place to eat and sleep anyway."

"You're right," I admit. "I guess I'm just worried that something might have happened to her while she was on her way back." Navi hums in agreement. "I wish I had sent you with her to make sure she got there okay."

"Nah," says Navi. "You'd have never gotten out of the cavern if I hadn't been with you. Or you would have forgotten to grab some weird fire to unfreeze Zora the Wonder King."

I chuckle at this new nickname, but I'm still worried. When we had arrived at the domain, the Great Fairy informed me of the cavern. But it was too cold for Malon to just wait around for me. After a huge fight, I convinced her to head back to Kakariko Village and find a room at an inn for the night. That way, she'd be safe (and most importantly, not freezing to death) while I kicked some icicle ass.

I sent her off with a good amount of money, asking her to stay at the same inn we were at before (so I'd know where to find her). But she was so angry with me; I hate it when she's mad at me like this. I wish she would understand how much I want to protect her, but that sometimes it means she has to do things she doesn't agree with so much. Of course, the plan here was not fool-proof. There is a terrible chance that she was ambushed on her way or in Kakariko.

As Navi and I realize that Malon probably won't kill me (since I finished so early), and as I voice my concerns about our friend's safety, we pick up the pace. Worries about her anger fade to anxiety. I can't get to Kakariko fast enough.

By the time we enter the village, it's relatively late, although not so late that we can't grab a meal. Navi and I both forget where the inn is located, most likely because our adrenaline levels are sky-rocketing, but I finally remember that it's near the kind woman's house-turned-inn. We enter into the lobby, and the slightly bored innkeeper waits behind the desk. "May I help you?" he asks, happy to see more customers.

"Um, I'm just looking for someone," I say quickly, and he quirks an eyebrow and shrugs.

I head to the homey lounge-slash-dining room with Navi fluttering slightly ahead of me. We figure that a meal is in order, and besides, this is the only place we're going to be able to find Malon. What, are we supposed to knock on doors or something? Creepy, man, just creepy.

I see Malon right away, and the expression on her face is not an encouraging one for me. I knew she was going to kill me! She's staring on the floor, looking very uncomfortable, worried, and upset, and I just know I'm in for it. Navi whispers, "Okay, this doesn't look good," as we get closer to our friend. I know I can't avoid the problem; I have to just take it. I think that after all I've been through, I can do this. But yeah, I'm still scared. I think she might kill me or something. But I walk closer anyway. I have to.

But when she looks up at me, I can't see anger at all. All I see is this terrible fear, and this really worries me. Something happened to her on her way here; I just know it. While there's not much space left between us, I still rush over to her. She looks as if she's going to cry or something as she stands up to meet me, and when I get to her, my hands go right to her shoulders. "Malon, what's wrong?" I ask quickly. Link, stop panicking. Stop it.

"Link, I have to talk to you," she whispers, and her hands have somehow found their way to the front of my tunic. "Let's go upstairs."

"Okay," I respond, knowing that it wouldn't be a good idea to insist she tell me here. And I'm really freaking out now. Seriously, my heart is doing horrible things to my chest right now, and there's a ringing in my ears. I follow Malon as we head up the stairs to the room she's booked for the night. Navi has flown into my hat, and I can tell she's nervous because it feels as if she's almost ripping my hair out.

I have to take the key from Malon's hand because she's shaking too hard to fit it into the lock. I tell Malon to sit on the bed as I light some lamps, and she does so without question or protest. Geez, something really must be wrong! Finally, there's enough light in the room so I feel comfortable; there are no long shadows to increase our worry. I sit beside Malon and put my arm around her, and Navi exits my hat and sits on Malon's leg. "Okay," I say, "what's wrong?"

I can tell that she's fighting back tears, and I worry that someone assaulted her on the road here. But it wasn't robbery, since her pack is in the corner of the room looking as full as ever, and she had enough money for the room. I absent-mindedly rub her arm trying to comfort her. Finally, she speaks.

"Link, Navi," and she pauses again. "Guys, I'm dying."

Very, very unexpected. Also very, very bad. And very, very strange.

"Huh?" Navi asks, expressing my same thought. "Malon, how do you know that? How are you dying?"

Now she is crying. "I'm _bleeding, _and I can't seem to make it stop!" she exclaims, and I can tell she's entering freak-out mode.

"Where are you bleeding?" I ask seriously, as I check over what I can see. I run my hand over her back to see if there are any bandages, but there are none, and there's certainly no blood. I move her so she's facing me and I look over her again. Nothing.

"You won't be able to see it," she says as she shakes her head.

"Then where is it?" I ask.

"Um …." She obviously doesn't want to tell me. And there's no reason I should make a possibly dying woman an embarrassed woman as well.

"Okay, it's okay. Let's go see if there's an apothecary who's still open, okay?" She nods and wipes away her tears. I feel terrible even though I don't think I did anything wrong. "Malon, it's going to be okay," I add. I help her to stand up, and Navi begins to blow out the lamps as we begin to leave.

"I don't know, Link," Malon replies. Her face begins to screw up a little as she's about to start crying again.

Now, it's not as if I know what to do in this situation. My best friend just might be dying, and there's absolutely nothing that I can do to help her. I'm not used to feeling so helpless, and now she's about to start crying again. I can't handle seeing it. And so I instinctively hold her close to me, in much the same way I did seven years ago. Back then, we saw people dying during a war. Now, we might just be seeing someone die again.

"I won't let anything happen to you," I tell her softly. From the way Navi doesn't react, I know she doesn't hear me. Otherwise, I'll be getting a lecture later about how I can't say things like that.

And so Malon composes herself as we step into the hall, down the stairs, and out into the slightly chilly night. Some shops are still open, since the regular closing time in Kakariko has always been relatively late. With the influx of refugees, times grow later and later. That's what happens when more people need work, and more people are shopping. I remember visiting an apothecary on this side of town before, and I steer my friend in that direction. To my relief, the store will be open for about another half hour, and we step inside.

A middle-aged woman sits behind the counter, looking bored as hell. She seems to rouse herself from sleep as she hears the little bell tinkling to signal our arrival. "Can I help you?" she asks, clearly uninterested in helping customers at this hour.

"Ma'am, we have a bit of a problem," I say slowly, not knowing what else to say. What should I have said? Hello, this is my friend, and she's dying. Can you help?

"What kind of problem?" she asks, glancing back and forth between my face and Malon's. She's trying to piece together the problem, and she stares at us suspiciously. "Oh, is this a pregnancy problem?" she asks, beginning to take a little bit of an interest.

"No," Malon croaks. "I don't think I'm pregnant."

"Well, let's have a talk, then," the woman says as she stands up. She beckons us toward a door near the back. "We can talk privately in here if you'd like." Malon nods, and the two of us enter the back room. It's a cozy little sitting room with lamps that burn lightly scented oil. I hope that Malon finds it more comforting here. We take the seats that we're offered on a couch. The apothecary sits opposite us in an arm chair. "So, what's the problem?"

"I'm bleeding, and it won't stop!" Malon practically wails. I put my arm back around her as she grips my other hand painfully. "I don't want to die!"

This information confuses the woman. "You're bleeding? Where?" She seems unconcerned that Malon might be bleeding on her couch. Now that I think of it, though, I haven't seen any blood anywhere.

"_Down there,"_ Malon whispers. "I put some bandages there to try to make it stop, but so far, it's getting worse." She's crying again, and I want to hit someone. I hate not being able to help. I hate having to sit here, knowing that my friend is in trouble, and unable to do anything at all.

We're all surprised when the apothecary laughs. "Oh Goddesses, my dear! No one ever told you, did they?"

"Told me what?" demands Malon.

"I see you find this amusing," I practically growl.

"Is this your first one?" she asks Malon, who is just getting more upset. "Oh, I'm sorry, it must be."

"What are you talking about?" Navi is exasperated.

"This is absolutely normal," the woman explains. "Most women find out about this before it happens, but I sometimes they don't know until it happens. But it's totally normal."

And so for the next twenty minutes or so, all three of us learn something new about the female anatomy. We leave with a supply of strange bandages for Malon's feminine issue, as well as some potion that will help her with any pain she has. Back at the inn, we are told that there are no more vacancies, but I think Malon is all right with that. She's incredibly embarrassed, though; she's still blushing, and she hardly says anything to me. Navi, though, is sitting on her shoulder, whispering to her. I wish I knew what they were saying. But it's probably more girl talk. Girl issues, girl talk, and poor me.

Back at the inn, the kitchen is still open, but Navi's worn out, Malon needs to take care of her new issue, and I'm just feeling restless. Navi has taken my hat and made a bed with it, and now she's getting herself tucked in. While Malon's in the washroom, I pull off my two shirts and my boots. Malon and I are going to go eat, but the dining hall is deserted; we'd rather be comfortable.

I fold my clothes, and then wash my face at the basin. I glance into the mirror and try to accept once again that I'm looking at myself. The same blond hair is still there, but my nose is far longer than before. Is it too big? Does it make me look funny? My mouth is a tight line, since I'm so stressed out, but I still wonder if it's normal to look the way I do. The biggest change is that I seem so full of angles. Is it because of the lifestyle I lead, with no time for regular meals? Or is this what was going to happen to me anyway?

Malon returns and removes her over-clothes. I stare at her face as she does so, and notice that her nose is longer, too. I suppose that children have smaller noses or something. Her lips aren't as thin as mine, I don't think; they're full and much redder, which makes me blush. Her face is also more angular, but still fuller than mine is. She's beautiful, I know; I wonder if she knows. Or does she not know that her features make me feel this way? Only when she's done do I remember the rest of her, and I blush even more. Damn, just her face can make me feel so strange, and then her body just makes everything so much worse. Or better. Who's to say?

Downstairs, the cooks are cleaning up, but they offer us some of the stew that sits perpetually over the stove, as well as the remains of today's bread. We sit at a corner table as we eat slowly. Sure, it's late, but after tonight, I don't feel so much like rushing. I like slow all of a sudden. But I feel like we need to talk, even if our new knowledge about Malon's body makes us both feel awkward.

"Malon," I start, "I'm sorry about tonight."

She looks up at me, her eyes rimmed with red. Is she tired, or upset? Or both? "Link, you didn't do anything wrong."

"Yeah, but I didn't do anything right either," I retort. Even though I don't want her to know how much I hate failing, I can't seem to stop dropping hints.

"Please," she says as she rolls her eyes. "Link, do you know what I would have done if you had taken longer tonight?" She pauses, but I don't answer. "I would have just gone to bed and cried myself to sleep. I was so upset, I didn't think of finding help."

"It happens," I remind her gently. "And you shouldn't feel so terrible. You had no way of knowing what was happening. And you were pretty brave, too," I add.

She finally smiles a little, and I feel much better. "Well, I'm just glad you got here tonight. I was freaking out."

And so we start to relax a bit, and I tell her about the Ice Cavern. She seems pleased that I managed to get out of the place without injury, especially since it took us so long to get out of Goron City. We like it here better though.

After we finish eating, and we return our dishes to the kitchen, neither of us is tired enough to go back to the room. While it would be nice to talk in the privacy of the room, we'd rather not risk waking up Navi. Besides, Navi is such a great friend to both of us; how rude would it be for us to keep her from getting her shuteye? So instead, we find a secluded part of the lounge where we can be unseen and unheard for a while. You'd think that a life like ours would involve more privacy, but nah. You'd have thought wrong.

And so here we sit, and we suddenly have nothing to talk about. It feels as though I have a million questions for her and a million things to tell her, but everything's just a jumble in my head. Words fly by and form incoherent sentence-like things. She's just staring at her feet in front of her. Well, then, so much for wanting to stay out of the room. What's the matter with us?

"I wonder if there are more adult things we're supposed to know," Malon finally says, breaking our awkward silence.

"Probably," I answer, although I'm not really listening too much.

"I mean, the woman said that some girls have this when they're much younger, like when they're nine. If my dad knew it would happen, I wish he'd have told me."

She's got a good point; Talon should know about this, since he was married before. "He probably wanted to protect you," I point out. "Apparently, there's more adult stuff to learn that we don't know yet." I'm thinking of the way I feel when I look at Malon. That certainly didn't happen when we were kids.

After another short silence, Malon has a strange revelation. "You know, it makes sense that I should have known, since my dad should have at least told me about the bleeding." I wonder where she's going with this. "But what about you?"

Huh? "What _about _me?" I ask right back. "The Kokiri don't age, so why would anyone tell me about this sort of thing?"

"But you're older."

She's right. I hadn't wanted to think about this before, but she's absolutely right. I almost laugh; I remember that this had also occurred to me the last time we stayed at this inn.

"I know," I sigh. "I know, and I don't know why. I figured that it must have been part of being in the Sacred Realm or something, like there was some magic there that made me older. I couldn't be the Hero of Time if I were still that young."

"But you also left the forest," she adds, and I cringe. I had been hoping that if no one else pointed that out, I could ignore it.

"I thought that might have been because the Deku Tree died," I say, which isn't true. I just can't think of another excuse. Malon's look makes it clear that she can tell.

"Link, have you ever thought that maybe you're not a Kokiri? I mean, you didn't have a fairy for the longest time, even though the other Kokiri had one from birth. You're the only one who's left the forest, and you're the only one who has aged. You even said that your friend Saria is still young, and she's a Sage!"

It was as if part of my world had come crashing down. I was still in the secluded part of the dining hall of the inn in Kakariko in Hyrule, with my best friend Malon staring anxiously at me, and my friend Navi upstairs sleeping. But I seriously could hear falling and crashing as something inside of me died. Malon had given voice to the fear I'd had ever since our first night here; that I didn't really know who I was. While it totally makes so many other things rational, it destroys the basic pillar of what I held true: that I was Kokiri. Sure, if I'm not Kokiri, then everything else works; I don't have a fairy when I'm born, I can leave the forest, and I age normally. But who am I?

And now _Malon _is holding _me _in a sudden reversal of roles. She's whispering things to me, such as "Don't worry," and "It's going to be fine, okay? We'll figure everything out." I only half hear her; it's as if everything is so far away now. But I finally come back to myself when she says, "You're still Link, no matter what. It doesn't change who you are."

"You're right," I manage to croak, and she _is _right. If I'm not a Kokiri, then I have never been one, so it's not as if anything has changed. I mean, other than my perception of myself. But I'm still me, right? I want to believe her, though, and so I do.

"Thank you," I add, as I wrap my arms around her, too. The embrace isn't a hug at all, and it's so comfortable as well as comforting.

After a few moments, we collect ourselves and head upstairs. Malon grabs one of the inn's towels from a drawer and practically rips the covers off the bed right after I light a lamp. I don't want to wake Navi, so I gesture violently at Malon to get her attention. Once she figures out from my mini game of charades that I want to know what she's doing, she comes up to me and whispers, "I don't want blood to get on the sheets while we're sleeping!" she hisses.

Oh. "Uh, then carry on," I whisper back. We both glance to my hat, but Navi doesn't stir.

Soon, I'm lying in a comfortable bed, and the heat from Malon's body beside me makes my skin tingle. Meanwhile, I can't sleep as I try to think about two different things at the same time. I don't recommend it, you know. As thoughts about my identity rush through my brain, they keep getting interrupted by Malon's crisis, and the two keep getting mixed up. As I fall asleep, the jumble somehow becomes something about how Kokiri are too small to stop the bleeding. That's the last thing I can remember.

* * *

The writing bug has bitten me again, which is unfortunate for me, since I really need to finish cleaning my room. Jah. But it's fortunate for some people, liiiiiike you wonderful readers. It occurred to me today, as I was trying to find a certain prescription (haven't found it), that Malon hadn't had her period yet. And yes, some girls don't learn about periods before they get them. I've read about it happening in a few books (one girl sat down and wrote her will). So, yep. Oh, and periods suck.

Everyone, if you're looking for some quality fanfiction (also Malon-Link), check out two authors, Paper Bear and Arvel. Paper Bear is the esteemed author of Nonexistent Fairytale, the sequel called Of Fools and Heroes, and my personal favorite, The Things That Cannot Be Fought. Seriously, she rocks. Go read. Arvel is the author of A Broken Hero, which is a very promising and engaging story that I just found a few days ago. Both these authors kick some serious ass, so please give their stories a read!


	12. Go do terrible things!

I really think I hate water now. I pull myself onto the island and pant; even if I can breathe underwater, it's claustrophobic and suffocating. The water is soaking my clothes thoroughly, but it slides off of the tunic easily, leaving it dry and smooth. The grass and dirt sticks to my pants; it's gross. I stand up and shake myself off as best I can while Navi comes shooting out of the water. She lands on the bank with a splat.

"Did you hear me ask you to slow down?" she sputters.

"Did you hear me tell you that I'd meet you up here?" I retort. It's true; I did say that. But I can see that Navi is just as wet and miserable as I am, and so I shake my head. "I'm sorry," I tell her. "I should have waited."

She's mollified. "It's all right," she says as she tries to dry herself off. She's having as much luck as I am.

"Good to see you again, Hero of Time."

I flip around to see the source of the voice; it's Sheik, looking very dry and serious as he leans against the tree a few yards away.

"What's up?" I ask as I try to squeeze the water out of my hat. I'm really in no mood for Sheik or his mysterious ways today. He's just going to be all serious and make me feel like an idiot for not understanding everything. He seems to know what all these Temples are leading up to, and I think he has some information that could help me. Oh crap, I think he was talking to me.

"Link, are you listening?" He's visibly annoyed.

"No," I respond, honest as always.

"Link, you need to pay attention," Sheik lectures. And then he continues. "Now, you've restored both Zora's Domain and Lake Hylia to their rightful states. You're getting closer to the end," he says wisely. "Your next destination is one of your favorite haunts, so to speak."

"The ranch?" I guess stupidly. Well, come on! Seven years ago, it would have taken a farm girl to get me out of there.

"No," Sheik says, not amused in the least. "Link, I'm only allowed to hint at things. I'm expressly forbidden to tell you anything outright. But I will see you there soon."

"Sure thing," I reply, although a little unhappily as Sheik disappears as usual. I turn to Navi. "I hate how secretive everyone has to be these days."

"Me, too," she says. "But with Ganondorf being in charge, I guess everyone needs to keep things quiet, especially if it's about overthrowing him."

"You're right," I tell her. "I just can't think today. Let's get back to Malon."

Before heading back, I stumble across the coolest spell ever; it makes my arrows burn at the tips. And by experimenting with it, Navi and I find that the flames never leave the head of the arrow; my fingers and bow will never burn. So cool. Like _bombs!_ Navi has noticed this similarity, too, though, and has made me promise that I won't be irresponsible with the spell. It's the same promise I made with the bombs, and so far, I might have all my limbs, but I've had a lot less fun.

We take the long way back to shore, since neither of us wants to get wet again. I try not to think too much about the Water Temple and my second encounter with Princess Ruto. She's called off the engagement, which was when I finally found out that being engaged means you're going to get married. Now, Ruto was a lot less annoying this time around, and I actually was very happy to see her. And wow, does she look great for a Zora. But marry a Zora? Not me. But I'm happy that I broke the curse on the Temple, and that the domain has thawed. I have no desire to go and check, so I'll be waiting to hear about it from gossip in Kakariko.

"Aaaah," I say as I stop suddenly.

"What?" Navi asks. She's accustomed to my strange noises and outbursts.

"My favorite haunt. Kakariko." Why can't I talk normally when I have important things to say?

"Aaaah," Navi echoes. "We're smart." And so I laugh, and we keep walking along the long bridges and small islands.

We reach shore finally, and we make our way to the Professor's home where Malon has been allowed to stay for the past ten days. Ten horrible days stuck in a wet, dangerous labyrinth. Maybe I'll just never go near water again. It's okay if I never bathe, right? Right? Oy.

I knock on the door, and immediately, I hear a scramble from inside. I chuckle as I hear someone bump into furniture and swear in Malon's voice. And when she opens the door, her face brightens up; I can only assume mine does, too. "Hey, there!" I say with a grin.

"Hey!" she replies as she jumps into my arms for a hug. "I was wondering when you'd be back."

Navi flutters around her head as we all walk into the house. "How was your week?" she asks. "I hope you weren't too bored."

"Oh, no," Malon replies, and I think she's being honest. "No, the Professor has a lot of really interesting books about wildlife around the lake, and I've spent a lot of time reading."

"Reading?" I ask with a grin. "If you read that many books, then maybe the past ten days have been kinder to us."

"Oh, shut up, Link," snaps Navi. "Anyway, Malon, we're going back to Kakariko next."

"Again?" asks Malon. "When this is all over, we might as well move there!"

"What about the ranch?" asks Navi.

There's a moment of stunned silence. Navi realizes what she's said, and she looks like she wants to crawl into a hole somewhere. I feel like I'm frozen to the spot, and Malon stares into space with a look of horror across her features. It was the perfect time for the Professor to enter the room and exclaim, "Oh, my dear, your friends have returned!"

This breaks the tension enough for us to pretend that everything was normal for a while. We had given the nice old man aliases (we're Derrick and Amy), since we figure that Talon may have made a fuss about our disappearance years ago; you never know who knows your name. The man invites us to stay for dinner and the night, although he had just housed Malon for well over a week. Since it's getting late, and there's no way we'd make it to Kakariko in time, we accept the invitation.

At dinner, the man shows us that at least Malon's alias is a very good idea. He pours himself a glass of wine and says, "What I wouldn't give for some Lon Lon milk these days! Amy, my dear, did you know what happened to that place?" Malon masks her sorrow easily as she feigns curiosity. "Well, my dear, seven years ago, the ranch owner's daughter, Malon, ran away with some young boy she met. Some people think he kidnapped her, but the boy was so young! I agree with the people who think she died in the battle that day. Her father claimed that the two children had been headed to market that day, so that must be the case. No one survived that battle!" We did.

Soon, the old man is rather rosy in the face, and he shows us to his guest room before heading to bed. The room is cramped, though, and so Navi grabs my hat and says she would sleep in the living room. I think she's just avoiding Malon; I can tell that Navi feels bad for brining up the ranch earlier.

Malon and I undress quickly and get under the blankets. I can't sleep, though; I can't stop thinking about what Talon must be going through now. I've seen Malon all the time since that day, but Talon hasn't seen her at all. I miss Malon after a week in a Temple, but there's a difference between seven days and seven years. And he hadn't even wanted us to go to market that day. It feels like guilt is slowly gnawing at my insides. Either I'm a kidnapper, or we're both dead. I wish I knew which one would be easier for Talon to handle.

"Link, are you still awake?" Malon whispers from beside me.

"Yeah," I reply. I had no idea she was awake; her breathing was so regular that she had me fooled.

"I think I'm homesick," she says simply.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Yes."

I sit up and lean against the headboard. "All right, then."

She sits up and leans against me. "Do you think that people could really believe you'd kidnapped me?" she asks.

"I thought you wanted to talk about home," I ask, confused.

"Yeah, but do you think that?"

"No," I reply honestly. "I think that the people who came up with that don't want to accept that children may have died that day." Children _did_ die that day, though; I remember their small corpses as we ran to the Temple of Time. "You were sort of the cover story for all children who were at the scene that day."

"I hope my dad thinks we're dead," she says sadly.

"Why? Won't that just make him go crazy if he sees us?"

"I'd rather have him think we're both dead than think you kidnapped me." She sounds bitter.

"Malon," I say, "I'd rather you be alive than dead, and I'm sure Talon feels the same way."

She sighs heavily, and I drape an arm around her. "I know, but even so, I don't want him to hate you. If I hadn't been with you that day, I would have been killed. If I hadn't been sealed in with you, I would have been killed. You know, you're the reason I'm still alive."

"I could say the same about you," I point out. "If you hadn't been there, I would have been murdered as I tried to figure out how to play the notes on the page."

Malon doesn't respond, though, and when I glance at her, I realize that she's fallen asleep. I smile at her and slowly shift her back down to the bed (no one likes to sleep propped up against a headboard). I can't get my arm from under her, though, so I just slide down after her. It's not too uncomfortable, and soon, I'm asleep, too.

The next day, the kind Professor sees us off with some more provisions, and we head to Kakariko feeling pretty refreshed. Although I can't hear what they're talking about, Navi is making small talk with Malon, and I can tell she's relieved that Malon isn't angry with her. Anger definitely never helps, I think, as I remember our first days as adults. The shouts, sneers, glares, and unfair comments that we both spewed out of our mouths were definitely not helpful. Everything feels so much better that we go to bed by saying goodnight instead of with cold silence and shame.

The hung-over Professor woke us up quite early today, and so as we near Kakariko, it's only late afternoon. That leaves us plenty of time to find Sheik and see what our next step is; I'd rather not be rushing around in the wee hours of the morning anyway. Malon is not looking forward to Sheik, and now Navi isn't really either.

Sheik's the kind of guy who I'd probably be friends with in different circumstances. Sure, he's serious, but I have to keep in mind that goofing off could result in carelessness, which could mean our deaths. I can tell that he wants me to be friends with him, too; there's just a tone in his voice, I guess. I haven't thought about it much, most likely since I haven't talked about it with Navi. Even though she isn't my fairy from birth (and I feel deflated as I remember that I'm not a Kokiri), we have a pretty close connection, and she usually acts as my conscience or another thought process. That isn't to say that I only think of her as part of my brain. But I think that we're still connected somehow, and if she hasn't brought up Sheik's weirdness, then it's not important and she hasn't noticed it.

"All right, we're back," Malon announces cheerfully. "Hm, that's strange."

"What's strange?" I ask, jarred from my usual nonsensical thoughts. But Navi points up, and I see smoke. I jump a little at the sight; the last time I saw smoke like this was the battle seven years ago. Before the memories can jump into my head, I tell myself that it was years ago. It doesn't matter if you think it happened a month ago; it was seven years ago.

"Come on," I tell my friends. "We have to see what's happening." No on argues; Sheik said to meet him here, and we have to go in. I don't want to meet up with him later and have him ask, "Where were you?" in a voice that says I let my fear get away with me.

It turns out that it's not such a crisis, although not the greatest of situations. The inn where we had been staying is on fire; one of the cooks is wailing about how he should have paid more attention to the toast he was making. No one seems to know what to do, and we have no way of putting out the fire. Malon, Navi, and I all split up to try to find some way to help put the fire out; if we don't do something, the whole town is going to be up in flames. As I tell myself that we shouldn't save the inn for sentimental reasons, I know that's part of my drive, too. I think, though, that we won't be able to save it. It's pretty far gone.

As I run to and fro, I hear people muttering about the windmill. I look up at it, as it moves slowly in the wind; maybe there is something there that can help put out the fire. I rush up the uneven stone stairs as quickly as I can without totally killing myself, and I push open the door.

The strange windmill man from my childhood is still there, although he looks rather upset. "Sir?" I ask cautiously. "Sir, is everything okay?"

"There's a fire," he says as he twitches. Eh? What's the matter with this guy.

"Uh, yeah," I respond. "Is there anything in here that could help?"

"No!" he shouts. But his reply is much too quick; even _I'm_ smart enough know he's lying. "There's nothing here!"

"Sir, please, people might get hurt!" I warn him. "If you can help them, and you don't, it'll be your fault!" I feel terribly guilty for playing with him like this, but it's pretty true.

"I won't play that boy's song!" he says stubbornly, and I have no idea what he's talking about. "I won't play his evil song again!"

"Then I'll play it!" I shout angrily. "Seriously, there's a terrible fire!"

After another few minutes of making him feel guilty, he quickly scribbles some notes on a piece of paper. "Fine!" he shouts. "Go do terrible things!" I rush out to find Malon.

After I find her, she hums the song for me, and I play it. As she asks me why the man was so scared of the song, it begins to rain. Not even rain, but _pour. _Everyone scrambles for cover as the fire is doused. "Well, then," I say proudly. "I'm glad I found that song." My hair is sticking to my forehead, and I scowl as I remember my new hatred of water. My clothes are now stuck to my skin, and it feels awful. I groan and then look up at Malon

But Malon is looking over her shoulder, looking thoroughly annoyed, and so I turn in the same direction. Sheik is approaching us; I realize that everyone else has disappeared to drier places. Damn, I'm sick of being wet. At least Sheik is also getting wet this time.

"This isn't good," he says, and I think he's panicking a little; Malon smirks slightly. "I think this was a trap. That song was the only way to stop the fire, but …." He stops talking abruptly and spins around; he's practically frozen as he stares at the well in the center of the town.

"Sheik, it's a well," I say slowly. "It has water in it."

"Link, back up," he warns quietly. I have no idea what's going on, though, and I inch a little closer. But before I get to Sheik to ask what's going on, something very invisible grabs him and begins to violently fling him in the air. This is classified as a bad situation. Navi curses.

Malon is the first to act, and I'm surprised, since she doesn't like Sheik so much. She draws her sword and quickly steps towards the invisible being, swinging her sword in front of her as she goes. "Malon, stop!" I shout, but before I can leap at her to stop her, she's hit pay dirt. Sheik falls to the ground with a sickening thud, and Malon is still slashing; I can hear some animal screech as she's making contact. I finally come to my senses as Navi screams into my ear, and I dive at Malon; it's a wonder she doesn't hurt me with her blade.

We lie panting on the ground for a moment, awaiting further violence at the hand of this … this thing, but nothing happens. After a moment, I hear Sheik getting up behind us, and Malon and I slowly pull ourselves up as well. Soon, the three of us are just standing around the suddenly empty well, speechless as the rain continues to pour down on us. All I can think about is Malon rushing up, brandishing her weapon, and totally kicking ass. It's kind of … attractive.

"Link," Sheik finally says, "in order for you to save Kakariko from burning to the ground, you have unleashed a being that has been sealed in the well for several years. In order to stop him, you must travel to the Shadow Temple, which is now hidden and forgotten in this town. You will also need a powerful artifact, without which you cannot proceed. Please come with me to the Temple of Time; I must give you new instructions." He seems angry, as if he should have suspected this. But I'd be going to the Temple anyway, right?

"Let's go then," I say to my friends, and we begin to follow Sheik to the gates. But he turns, and I feel like I'm being stabbed as he says, "The farmer's daughter must remain here."

I turn to Malon, and she's in shock. She's stopped in mid-step, her eyes wide and her mouth slightly open; her hair has been flattened by the rain. Neither of us knows what to do as we stand there dumbly. Navi finally asks, "Why?"

"She cannot go with you," he says simply.

I find the words. "Malon goes where I go," I say firmly, and I almost scream when Sheik chuckles sadly.

"Believe me," he says. "She cannot go where you'll be going."

A few minutes later, Navi is grumbling, and I'm handing Malon rupees outside of another inn. She stares at me sadly, and I feel so terrible about leaving her again. "Malon, I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault," she sighs. "I just hope there's a good reason, you know?"

"I know," I say smiling. "And I'll just beat him up if it's a bad reason."

"Of course."

Navi begins to float away towards Sheik, who is giving us some space; she knows that my conversation with Malon is basically over. But then Malon throws her arms around my neck, and I grab her waist and hold her tight. I don't like the sound of, "She cannot go where you'll be going." It just can't be good.

* * *

I was up until 4 o'clock am writing, and 4:20 trying to update the story. Of course, the site decided to crap out on me. I would have been up that late writing anyways, though; I was majorly inspired to finish Chapter Sixteen (although I will have to go back and edit it a whole bunch). I tend to write ahead because that way, if I need to change a minor, seemingly-unimportant detail in an earlier chapter, that earlier chapter has yet to be uploaded and available to the general public. 

Just to give you all the general idea, this story should be twenty chapters long. There's still plenty more to come, but I'm working on making Chapters Thirteen through Sixteen as awesome as possible before uploading them. I have this fear that I might either have to change _this _chapter at some point, or go out of my way to get around a detail instead. Hmph.

Please remember to visit Arvel and Paper Bear, two authors that I really like.


	13. The Cross

My head is spinning on my shoulders, even if I can still see straight ahead. Muck and slime seep into my tunic as I crawl through the cramped tunnel, and although I can feel myself moving forward, the dim light at the end looks as if it's getting father and father away. Navi is trying not to get flattened as she shivers on my head; she's relying on me to get us the hell out of here.

And I'm _trying _to get the hell out. I've been trying already, and we're so close. I just wish that the walls wouldn't feel like they were falling down on top of me; I can barely breathe. This place is the worst ever, and it's not only because it's the scariest place I've ever been.

_Finally! _I'm practically spit out of the tunnel as I fall a foot or so to the bottom of the well; sewage flies out around me, and more flies up once I land. Faint light pours around me, and I begin to cry.

"Shh!" Navi drags herself out of my hat and presses her hands against the side of my face. "Link! You have to be quiet or you'll wake someone up! Please!"

I don't know why I'm crying, and somehow I can't stop. Am I sad, happy, scared, or relieved? Too much has happened since I got here; I need time to think.

Tears and wails pour out of me until I hear a voice approaching the well; I've woken someone up. I scrambled back into the tunnel as I hear a man's voice calling out softly. "Probably just a small animal or something." I hold my breath, but tears are still falling down my face.

"I wish they'd refill this well," says a female voice. "I don't see anything down there." Her voice bounces off of the bare stone. "Come back to bed, please. It's four in the morning." Four in the morning? Maybe that's why I feel so … so overcome right now. I've been up for a while, and I'm running on nothing.

The voices go away, and I sigh heavily and shakily. "Are you okay?" Navi's voice is the softest I've ever heard it. She doesn't want to wake anyone else up.

"I don't know," I whisper back. "Let's leave."

We don't talk as I climb back up the side of the well and step onto the grass. Usually when I'm finished with something, I can stop thinking about it, and I can think about something else. Recently, it's been Malon, and she's one of several things invading my mind right now. I examine each as we quietly make our way out of the village, and salt water drips down my face. Slime drips off my clothes.

I'm ten again. I'm ten and terrified, and I feel as if I don't fit into my skin as well as I did before. I don't completely feel like a kid anymore, but at least when I glanced into the river on the way to Kakariko, I felt relieved. I looked down and saw me. I saw Link. I didn't see the strange older boy—no, man that I've been seeing in the mirror for the past month or so. But I feel so confused now, and I have no idea why. Again, I don't feel quite the same as I did before this whole mess happened. I can't say that something's missing or if something new is there, but something is different, and I don't feel completely at home.

Then there's the well. I'm ten again, so a whimper claws its way out of my throat. I always thought that Jabu-Jabu had been frightening enough, but I guess there are worse places. Even though my eyes see twilight, my mind's eye sees the main torture chamber, with the blood flaking off the walls and bones piled in the corners. The huge, stained cross looms in front of me, with rusty chains dangling from each side. I _know _that I'm in the cool morning air, making my way down to the field, but I'm afraid now. I wonder if this is all fake, and whether or not I'm about to step into a gaping hole. Maybe there's a skulltula dangling right in front of me, waiting for me to step within reach. Farore, I'm can't do this! If I can't see it, it shouldn't be there, and if I can see it, it should be real! I shouldn't need anything to show me what's real or not; my own eyes should be enough.

I step out onto the field, and almost immediately, two stalchildren pull themselves out of the earth. It may have been a month since I've dealt with them, but they've never been easier. Even Navi seems bored with them. After defeating the first set of them, my eyes land on the ranch that sits on the horizon.

Malon. My thoughts drift to her, as they usually do after I'm done with a Temple, or in this case, a well. I'm not thinking of her as my ten-year-old counterpart right now, but as the young woman who is waiting for me in Kakariko in seven years. I want to run to her and have her hold me as my tears soak her tunic. She could stroke my hair and tell me that everything will be all right.

I look to the ranch again as I spear another skeleton. Now I'm thinking of Malon as the young girl I'm friends with. At this point in time, she hasn't met me, of course, but I'll bet she's in there right now, sleeping soundly. She has no idea that in less than a week, she'll bump into a lost boy wearing green, and his fairy who will be saying things like, "We should have just asked for directions, but _noooooo!"_

As we move closer to the drawbridge, and the sun climbs over the horizon, I feel strange. I've been sent back in time to the day this whole mess started, when I was called to see the Great Deku Tree. Now, though, I have knowledge of what will happen from now own. Of course, there's another Link and another Navi; we're probably taking turns keeping watch in the Deku Tree right now, on our first night. It's this weird paradoxical pile of crap, and I don't quite understand everything. I just know that I have until the day that I was first sealed into the Sacred Realm to get some "chores" done.

But I can't stop looking back at the ranch, even though the sun is in my eyes. I desperately want to see Malon again. I shake off my fear of cooties (after the well, I know there are worse things), and I think about sneaking into the ranch or something. Maybe I could just spy on her. If she can't come back in time with me, I should at least get to see her past self, right?

Maybe I could talk to her. Just say hi or something. I could go buy a change of clothes, and I could ask Navi to hide. I could get a potion to change my hair color, and I can go by a false name.

I've got plenty of money, so I could just say I was looking to buy some milk or something. I could probably think of a good enough back-story so no one would be suspicious. I just want to see her, even though I know she's okay, and I know I can just go back to the Temple of Time, back to my adult body. I can go back to the Malon who knows me, and who's on this journey with me. She'd be heartbroken, I think, if she were with me now, looking at the ranch, where her dad is still in charge and happy. Maybe she'd regret coming with me.

What if I changed it?

The sun has risen completely, and the last stalchild disappears into the earth; I hear the drawbridge lowering behind me. But I stop in my tracks, looking at the damn ranch. What if I change it?

What if I go to the ranch and tell Malon not to come with me? I mean, sure it'll make me look ridiculous when she meets me in the market place, but I'll tell her that I won't remember her if she sees me again. Or maybe I can send Navi in instead? That could work. And Navi would tell her that Malon could be friends with me, but she should never, ever leave the ranch with me alone. And then Malon could have stayed with her father. I know she'd be happier with her father. I get a slight adrenaline rush from this idea.

"Navi," I say, "I need you to go to the ranch."

"Eh?" she replies.

I sigh heavily and explain my plan. It sounds much weaker out loud than it did in my head, but even so, I think it's pretty good. "See, Navi, that way Malon could be happier. She only chose to come with me because she couldn't go home. She didn't choose to get stuck with us in the Sacred Realm or whatever. This way, she'll know that she should stay at home that day if she doesn't want to get stuck." I hold out my hands as if I've just completed some sort of show-stopping number.

"Oy," is her enthusiastic response, and my heart drops. I know that I won't like what she'll say next, but she's always been reasonable, except for when it comes to bombs. And I know she's not trying to crush my spirit or anything. She will, though; I can tell already.

"Link," she continues softly, "if Malon hadn't come with us, you wouldn't have been able to play that song Zelda gave us."

I make a whining noise. "Okay, so?" I know she's got a big point there.

"So," she says firmly, "we would have been just sitting there in the temple, and Ganondorf would have walked in and killed us. Then he could have used the stones, the ocarina, and the song to open that door."

She's right, so I have to think of a way that she's wrong. At this point, I already know that the "tell Malon" plan is off, but I have to make sure there are no loopholes. "Ganondorf wouldn't be able to pull out the Master Sword," I say proudly. "Only I could pull it out because I was worthy of being the Hero of Time. He wouldn't be able to get into the Sacred Realm, and the Triforce would be safe." I smile triumphantly. I know she'll beat that, but I like challenging her. I feel ten again, and it's wonderful.

She's staring at me sadly, and I guess she can see through my bravado. "Fine, Link. The Triforce would be safe until Ganondorf found someone else worthy of being the Hero of Time and forced him or her to pull out the sword. Or he would just take the rest of the country by force, as he did with the castle and the market, and countless innocent people would die. So, you'd be dead, I'd be dead, a lot of other people would be dead …." She pauses as if she's waiting for me to understand something. I mean, I know it would suck to be dead, and to have other people be dead. What more is there to get at? "People that we are friends with and care a lot about might be dead."

Oh. Malon. A bunch of age-inappropriate words tumble out of my mouth at a high speed. "I hate this," I tell my friend. "I just want to help her be happy."

"I know, and so do I. Besides, you remember Sheik's rules."

Oh, those stupid rules! Link, do not communicate to other people other than what is absolutely necessary. Link, always keep in mind the task you are performing; do not get distracted by unimportant things. Link, keep track of how many days you have left; if the battle begins before you return to the future, very, very bad things will happen. Link, remember that you and Navi will exist in two different places; take great pains to avoid your other self.

What Sheik was trying to say was that it was dangerous to spend time in the past, and I needed to go in, get whatever I needed to get, and get out. So I trudge into market with a heavy heart inside my chest and Malon's ranch behind me.

It's strange to be back in market, since the last times that I've been here, it's either been a battlefield or a decaying ghost town. All the shops are opening now, and men, women, and children are beginning to roam the plaza and the streets. As we near the temple, one shop grabs my attention, and Navi notices with disdain.

"Has it occurred to you that you're practically a walking weapons shop?" she snaps.

"Yes," I answer honestly, "but Malon isn't."

"That's hardly an excuse."  
"Come on, can we at least check it out? I haven't seen a weapons shop in Kakariko, and we might as well check this place out before we go back."

My fairy reluctantly acquiesces, and we head inside where I find some of the coolest stuff _ever._ A lot of it I don't really need, and a lot of the goods are sort of silly. Navi is making pretty amusing comments ("Link, I think you desperately need a commemorative sheath for your sword. How do you feel about painted arrowheads?"), and I'm trying not to offend the owner with my giggling. But it's so good to be ten again. And finally, something cool _and _useful catches my eye, and I leave with one for Malon and one for myself. Navi jokingly complains that she wants one, too.

The temple is empty, but the stones are still on the altar, and the door is still open. Before I came back in time, Sheik explained that the Sages have limited ability to tamper with time, but they can take elements of the present and make them true in the past. Rauru, Ruto, Darunia, and Saria managed to manipulate the past enough to keep the Door of Time open long before I actually opened it, and they are also using their power to keep anyone from entering the temple and wondering what the hell is going on. So I have to be done with the past before I open the door the first time; the door was closed when I saw it for the first time, and so it has to be closed before Malon and I show up. Time traveling sucks.

And so Navi dives under my hat and grabs my hair, I pull the Master Sword from the pedestal, and away we go.

I've only just closed my eyes, but when I open them again, I see Sheik, and we're at eye-level. Well, almost; I'm slightly taller than he is. He's still soaking wet from the thunderstorm that Malon and I set off yesterday … wait, yesterday? No, not yesterday, _today._ As in just now.

"Well?" he asks nervously. "Did it work?"

"I was gone for a second, wasn't I?" I still can't believe this, but why haven't I thought of it? Maybe it was the shock of being ten again. Maybe it was the bottom of the well. Maybe it's because I've been awake for about thirty-six hours. Maybe it's because I've always trusted Sheik, and it never occurred to me that he would lie.

"Yeah, of course," Sheik answers, and he waves his hand as if brushing away the topic. "But did it work? Did you get the lens?"

"Yes," I snap, trying to readjust to being in my adult skin again. "But if this was only going to take a second on your end, why couldn't Malon come with us?"

"Well, it's complicated," he answers lamely.

"Right," Navi replies sarcastically. "I'm sure."

"Why?" I ask again.

He lets out a frustrated sigh. "Look, she didn't need to be here for you to do what you needed to do. Besides, this entire operation relies completely on subtly. If Ganondorf figured out what's going on, we're absolutely screwed."

"How could he not know what's going on?" I ask. "He's got to know that three sages have been awakened, that the curses on the Temples have been broken, and that his monsters have been cleared out of so many regions. He probably already knows where I'm going next!"

"Then why are you still alive?" he replies, and he seems agitated. "He would have set a trap and killed you already. Why would he let you prance around Hyrule, weakening his influence and mobilizing your own force of power? Come on, Link, he'd have sent out assassins already to ambush you."

"I'm not prancing," I say angrily. "Don't trivialize what I go through." The cross stands vividly in my mind, and I shudder as I remember walking up to it and falling through the false floor below me.

Sheik breathes deeply. "All right, fair enough. But my point, Link, is that Malon raises the risk that we're going to be caught. Besides, can't you spend time away from her for a moment?" Now he sounds incredibly annoyed.

And _I'm _incredibly annoyed. "Of _course _I can spend time away from her!" I shout back indignantly. "Clearly, I can! I'm here without her, after all! And I always go to the Temples alone. But just because I'm capable of spending time from her doesn't mean I have to like it!" I know I'm arm-waving, which is a bad idea when you're holding a sword. But yeah, whatever.

Sheik lets out a disgusted grunt. "You don't seem to mind staying away from any of your _other _old friends!" he spits.

"What are you talking about?"

He laughs. "Saria cares for you like family, and do you even stay in the forest to respect her sacrifice? No, you haul ass out of there immediately!"

"That's not fair!" Navi exclaims in my defense. "The other Kokiri treated Link poorly! He had already said goodbye to Saria, so what should it matter if he had stayed? It's not as if either of them wanted to end their reunion!" I feel myself turn red; it's rare that other people defend me. It's always the other way around.

Sheik is ignoring Navi's point. "And then there's Ruto, who's spent the last seven years struggling with depression because she was so in love with you! And when she had to break off your engagement, which Rauru _forced _her to do, how do you react? You practically rejoiced!"

"First of all," I say through clenched teeth, "I did not rejoice. I care about Ruto even if I don't want to marry her, and I felt really bad about what happened. But do not tell me I'm a bad person because I didn't want to marry her! I'm allowed to feel however I feel about it!"

Again, he ignores my argument. "And Princess Zelda has been seriously risking her cover to help you, and you—"

"You've seen Zelda?" Has he really seen her? I haven't seen her since she flew past me on horseback, and she's the entire reason I'm here. Okay, so maybe there are several reasons I'm here today, but she is the one who gave me an objective in the first place.

"Yes," he replies, calming down slightly. "Yes, I've seen Zelda, and she does nothing but worry about you, even when she's supposed to have her mind on other things."

"Well, next time you see her, tell her that she should stop worrying so much," I say bitterly. "I'm doing just fine, and she needs to focus on herself, not me."

"Well, will you focus on yourself and not that farm girl?" He's glaring at me, and I've just had _enough!_

"What the hell is your problem with Malon anyway?" I demand. "She's smart, resourceful, and strong, not to mention kind and understanding! She's lost her family, her home, her entire life! The least you could do would be to give her a break, but instead you treat her as if she were some sort of disease!"

"She's not the only person who's lost all that!" Sheik cries out. "You have no idea how much I've had to sacrifice in these past seven years just to ensure your success and safety!"

"At least you _had _those seven years!" I bellow. "Malon, Navi, and I have lost all that, too! I'm the Hero of Time, but since when did anyone give me time? I'm stripped of almost half of my life, and then I'm rushed back and forth, hurrying all over the damn place." I sigh angrily. "Whatever homes I've had have been taken from me, and I'm not allowed to go back and just live my life however I want. I keep losing my friends to this whole damn situation. Why is it so terrible that Malon stays with me? Should I send her away so you can feel satisfied? Should I suffer another loss when I don't have to? What do you want from me, Sheik?" I want to cry; I can feel the ten-year-old push himself up from wherever he lives inside of me. But instead I stand tall and stare at the Sheikah before me, knowing that there is nothing he can say to change my mind on this matter.

"What's more important to you?" he asks. His voice still has an edge. "Being with this girl whenever you can, or saving this damn country?"

"How can you ask that?" Navi is taking over for me now. She can tell when I'm done with whatever I have to say. "Aren't we saving this place to save the people we care about? It's the same goal, you know. And the fact remains that Malon has done nothing but help us, and she understands that Link has the final say in all situations that have to do with his obligations. If anything, she's speeding up the process! How long do you want Ganondorf's reign to continue?"

Sheik throws up his hands in anger, and then he points at me. "You never answered my question."

"I'm not going to," I tell him. "It's not a fair question." But I realize I know the answer, and even worse, he does, too.

Sheik says nothing more. He simply steps into the shadows, where I know he is using Sheikah magic to make his exit. I turn to the doorway to the other room and sigh.

"Let's go back," Navi says gently. I nod, and we quietly walk out.

As I show off my mad sword skills by finishing off redeads, I think about what just happened. Guilt wells up slightly when I acknowledge that while Malon hasn't hindered me yet, she might at some point. But what am I supposed to do about it? Is it better to risk her getting in the way, or to send her away, which would leave me in some sort of miserable state? And if she gets in the way, I could always fix it. Besides, she saved my life in the crater. Without her, things would be very different. As Navi pointed out earlier, I'd probably be dead, and Ganondorf might have taken over anyway.

But I'm still bothered by Sheik's last question to me, about whether it's more important for me to be with Malon than it is to save Hyrule. Sheik and I both know what I would say. But so what? No matter what happens, saving Hyrule is important to me. Without Hyrule, there is no Malon. But without Malon, well … I'd still save Hyrule. But it wouldn't be the same.

As I walk down the stone bridge to the moat, I shake my head, as if I can shake up my thoughts to rearrange them, and make them easier to understand. I know it's possible to live my life without Malon. That's obvious. And it's true that I'd be unhappy to be without her. Hell, one of the reasons I left the forest was because being there without Saria just wasn't okay with me. Losing Navi would be awful, too. Sheik just doesn't question that.

Why doesn't he question that? Navi isn't totally necessary for my success, although she's very helpful. I might have been stuck in some very bad places for a long time if it hadn't been for her. But the same can be said for Malon. So why would it bother him that I want to spend time with Malon if she and Navi aren't that much different? I mean, yeah, Navi's a fairy, but what does that matter?

My boots slosh through the murky water that flows through the moat, and as I step on the firm bank, I finally figure it out.

"Navi, have you noticed anything weird about Malon and me?" I ask nervously. I feel jittery from lack of food or sleep, my fight with Sheik, and the thoughts that are crowding around in my head.

"No, why?" she asks, her voice still slightly edgy from our argument with Sheik. And now I have to explain why I'm even asking this ridiculous question.

"Uh," I begin eloquently as I fumble around for the right vocabulary, "I mean, do we act weird around each other at all?" She's quiet for a moment, and I know her well enough to know that I've hit pay dirt. "Navi, please just tell me, okay?"

"Okay, okay," she says quickly, as if I'm torturing her for information. But then she starts talking slowly, and I just want to scoop her into a bottle and shake her around for a while. "Well, I mean, I don't think the way you guys act around each other is that strange. Maybe it would have been strange when you were kids, but you're both adults now. So what you think is weird is what other people see as normal."

"Thank you for being cryptic, Navi," I scowl. "Do you mean that I act weird around Malon because I _like _her?" I've voiced the foreign idea that popped into my head moments ago, and now I fear I've made it official. I might not know much about adult stuff, but I know what a crush is. That's what Ruto had with me. That's what Mido had with Saria. And now I think it's what I have with Malon. I guess the worst part is that I don't know what comes _next._ What do you do with a crush besides _have _one?

"Yeah," Navi says quietly. "But don't worry. I think she likes you back."

I feel slightly light-headed (although at this point, I'm writing everything off to sleep deprivation), but it makes me feel a little more confident if Navi thinks that Malon's also in my situation. "So what do I do?" I ask stupidly.

Navi makes a thinking noise. "I don't know," she replies. "I mean, maybe you should talk to her, but I just worry that things might get awkward. And if things get awkward and you get distracted, then Sheik might have a point about her getting in the way." I glare at her. "Okay, okay," she says, realizing her error. "I mean, we don't _want _him to be right, and he won't ever be right, and please, let's get back as quickly as possible before I pass out."

I smile weakly, as if the muscles in my face have just given up on me. "Yeah, okay."

A few minutes later, Navi flies down and rests on my shoulder. "Don't worry," she tells me, and I know what she's talking about. "Really, I think she likes you back."

It's difficult to rush back to Kakariko when my legs feel as if they're about to fall off, but somehow, we're managing. Navi's is probably asleep on my shoulder, since she hasn't said anything else. Damn, why can't I ride on someone else's shoulder? Stupid walking …

I can't stop thinking about the fact that I like Malon. I don't even know when it happened. And it's really bothering me that I don't know what to do next. What do people do when they like someone? I don't even really know what it means, even if I know what it feels like. I need to figure this out.

There's the whole liking thing that has to do with me caring about Malon more than Hyrule. Geez, when I think about it in those simple terms, I sort of seem like an asshole. But anyway, it's the whole deal with me wishing that I could keep her safe and happy. It's what made me want to go to the ranch when we were back in time so I could keep her from getting mixed up with me, to protect her. These feelings aren't so hard to understand, I guess.

And then there's the part that I just totally don't get. Why do I feel guilty when I stare at her body, even though I _like _staring at her? What _is _it about her legs, her hair, her _arm? _I know I'm not supposed to look at her chest, and I _try_ not to, but it just happens sometimes. Her chest and hips are probably the worst of all for me. I feel like I want to hold her, and just be in contact with her in general. And I like it when I can hold her, or when she holds me. Even when it's embarrassing as all hell, I keep looking for opportunities. I know this has to do with me liking her, but I don't know why.

By the time I reach the village, I have a massive headache from thinking too much while overtired. Navi groans from under my hat. "Food," she pleads as I climb the steps.

"Really soon, I swear," I respond.

My body is about to fall apart when I finally push open the door to the inn. I stumble in the general direction of where I think the common room is, but I somehow end up in the kitchen. After the angry cooks shoo me out (and without food, either, which sucks!) I stagger in the opposite direction. The proprietor is suddenly in front of me, trying to help me stand up straight. "Can I help you, son?" he asks me.

"Uh, yeah," I say, helping give respect to all seventeen-year-old men. "Is there a young woman here, with reddish brown hair?"

"Oh, yes," he replies. "She's in the common room." He steers me into the right direction, and soon I find myself in a bright room filled with tables, benches, couches, and chairs. The kitchen must wrap around because there's a bar at the far end. Malon is sitting there, perched on a stool, sipping something out of a mug. As I approach her, I see that her hair is still slightly damp. That's how short a time I've been gone in the present.

"Hey," I croak, and I manage to withstand the sudden force of a woman crashing into me. Thanks to my revelation earlier, I can fully appreciate the feeling of her arms around me, and I can be thankful for the chance to wrap mine around her. Some other patrons in the inn stare at us.

"You're back pretty early," she says brightly. But she looks me over, and her facial expression changes as she assesses the damage. "Okay, no, you don't look so great."

"Food," Navi groans again.

After a well-deserved dinner, full of stew and bread and the best tea I've ever had, we head upstairs to the room Malon has reserved. It's early evening, but Malon has been up since dawn, and thanks to my job-obligation-thing, I'm a walking corpse and Navi is just this puffy dead thing. As soon as we enter the room, Navi snatches my hat, makes a bed on the dresser, and falls asleep. I've never seen her do that so quickly.

As I throw my pack into a corner rather unceremoniously, I hear a strange tumbling noise I haven't heard before. But then I remembered that I had done some shopping in the market. "Hey, I have something for you," I call softly to Malon, who's busy undressing and brushing her hair out. I blush slightly when I turn to her and see her bare arms and legs.

"What is it?" she asks as she walks over, still running her fingers through her hair. I just smile as I pull out a small, long box, slightly worn with age, even though I feel as if I just bought it this morning. She grins a little at me as she opens it carefully, but her expression becomes concerned when she pulls out a sheathed dagger.

"Just in case," I tell her. "Put it in your boot when we get up tomorrow. It's small enough that it shouldn't make moving uncomfortable." I touch her arm to reassure her. "I even bought one for myself. It's a really high quality dagger."

She looks up at me and I feel my heart skip a few beats. The effect is unpleasant and dizzying, and made worse by my exhaustion. "Thanks," she says, and I can tell that she really means it. The dagger means that I trust her to defend herself, to not need me. But she doesn't need me anymore. Sure, she doesn't have the best judgment; I wouldn't have just rushed in to fight that strange, invisible force that attacked Sheik. But to be fair, I've never been known for having good judgment. I might not have rushed to attack, but I do plenty of other stupid things.

Malon refuses to let me go to sleep until I've taken a bath, though, and she ushers me in once she's filled the tub. As comatose as I am, I still blush and become much too aware of myself as she helps me undress to my underwear. "All right, you're on your own, but please don't drown," she says. She smiles at me for a few moments. I smile back.

And then, I, Link, the densest guy who has ever lived, notice something. Malon's eyes flicker to my chest, and then she immediately blushes and looks away. I feel myself grow warm as I realize what just happened.

I soak in the hot water for a few minutes after she leaves, thinking it over. Since when did that ever happen? Have I missed it when Navi hasn't? Is that what I look like when I look at her? Does it mean she likes me, too? Why does she like looking at my chest anyway? It's covered in scars, like this one from the time where I was absolutely sure that I could do a backflip in time. But nooooooo, the stalfos just had to stab me first. Thanks, man.

After I scrub the grime from my skin and scrub the dirt and sweat out of my hair, I climb out of the murky water. She likes me; I know it. I just wish I knew what we should do about it. I dry myself off as best I can and then glance in the mirror. Does she really like me? I look so dead that I can't believe she could like looking at me. But whatever, it's all right.

I finish drying myself and throw the towel on the standing rack while I pull my underclothes on, but I freeze once I stand straight up again. The towel rack is the same shape as the cross in the torture chamber at the bottom of the well …

After I climb into bed, Malon hugs me. But I don't hug her back. All I can see is blood and bones, and slime dripping from the walls. There's acid on the ground and monsters everywhere, and I just can't see them. I wish I could get up, grab the lens, and just double-check to make sure there's nothing here.

"What's wrong?" Malon asks. I turn to her, and she looks unhappy. "What the hell happened to you, Link?"

"Nothing," I breathe. "Nothing actually happened. It was just frightening."

"Where were you?"

"The bottom of the well."

She frowns. "Okay, _which _well, Link?"

"Here."

She shakes her head. "But I saw you leave."

And I spill the truth to her, although there was nothing except my own cowardice that was preventing me before. I leave out the fight with Sheik, and I also don't mention the ranch, or my epiphany, and how I was enjoying her arms around me even as I shuddered at the memories of the cloying darkness.

She's silent for a moment after I tell her, and I feel terrible. I shouldn't have told her; now she's just going to treat me like I'm ten, or crazy. I'm not crazy. I'm just terrified.

"Well, I'm real, so don't worry," she finally says.

I chuckle weakly. "If you ever say anything that cheesy again, I'm leaving you and never coming back," I warn her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you," she says with a grin. "Well, since you're half-dead, you should probably just lie down and die all the way."

"Yes, Malon, that's a very nice thing to say to people," I comment. "Yeah, you want me to tell you the same thing? Malon, why don't you lie down and die?"

She laughs as she untangles her arms; I feel colder. "All right, seriously, go to sleep."

So I do.

* * *

Yeah, so apparently, it's been almost a year since I last updated. That's what happens when . . . well, I can't write it all off to school. I'm also supremely lazy, so nyah. I hope that this chapter has lived up to some sort of expectations, whether they're high or low or whatever you will. This chapter has actually been finished for quite a while, but I had edited it several times, and I was hoping to complete a few more chapters before posting it. I think, though, that I won't run into any problems down the road. 

Happy reading.


	14. Prancing around in shorts

There are two positive things I can say about the Shadow Temple. The first is that now that I have this stupid lens, the Temple's invisible and fake obstructions were sort of pointless. The second is that I'm done with it. Otherwise, I can't think of anything remotely good to say about it.

It wasn't as traumatizing at the well, I suppose, and I shudder as I think about that horrible place. But it was frustrating and unpleasant all the same. I had to spend several minutes looking over every room with the lens, and once I took so long that a wallmaster dropped down on me. I had to spend the next several minutes trying to throw him off of me before he strangled me, and Navi flew about frantically, screaming and shouting.

Even in the sunlight, I can't shake off the feeling that I need to check around me for invisible obstacles again. Impa warned me before I was dropped off here in Kakariko. "Don't hold on too dearly," she said. "That lens doesn't see into people's minds or hearts. You can never be sure about reality."

So much for "at least I can see what's real or not with this piece of junk." I'd throw it out, but I'm still worried about walking into a skulltula. Bleeeech.

I feel edgy as I wander out of the graveyard and back into Kakariko proper. Navi is complaining that spending so much time in dark and dank places is making her sick. "See, can't you tell that my nose is getting stuffy?"

"You sound fine," I tell her. "And if you're getting sick, we'll buy some red potion for you."

"Actually, you're right. I don't think I'm sick," she replies quickly.

"What's this?" I ask. I stop walking and point to shattered glass on the pathway in front of a grave.

Navi floats towards it to get a better look. "Poe glass, I think. Someone broke its lantern." She groans as I search through my pack for the Lens of Truth. "Don't bother; there haven't been invisible Poe here before, you idiot."

"What if there are new monsters here?" I counter.

"Hey, remember how all the monsters disappeared everywhere else you awakened a Sage?"

I roll my eyes. "Yeah, but explain the Poe glass." Ah-ha, I have you now on this one, Navi.

She rolls her eyes right back at me. "How about the Poe are here because they are spirits of the dead, and there have _always _been Poe here? Link, this is a graveyard. Of course there would be Poe here."

Okay, so I don't win this one.

We pass more Poe glass as we exit, as well as signs of a scuffle. I grow slightly nervous as it occurs to me that something might have happened, especially to Malon.

My fears are confirmed when we arrive at the market place in the heart of the village. There are plenty of people who are just going about their business, but I can't help but notice small groups of people, talking excitedly. And Navi and I pick up small bits and pieces of these gossipy conversations.

"… yes, I was there! Five ghosts!"

"… something about her uncle being a knight …"

"… I don't usually approve, but in times like these …"

"… some foreign country, I forget which …"

"… heard her name was Amy …"

And we happen to know someone who goes by Amy. I have a bad feeling that they're talking about her. And so we pick up the pace as we head to the inn. I hope Malon has a good explanation for this, because I think our cover might be blown.

Gah! Suddenly, I can't breathe. Someone has grabbed the back of my tunic, and I'm dragged into the shade behind a few buildings. I finally pull the person's hands from the back of my neck and gulp air into my lungs. Rubbing my throat, I turn around to see Malon wringing her hands.

"Uh, _ow!" _I exclaim. "What the hell!"

"Shh!" She waves her hands in front of her. "Okay," she whispers. "Sorry, it's just that we have a problem."

"Next time we have a problem, do not strangle me!" I hiss. This is _very _important to remember.

"What's wrong?" Navi asks. Damn her and her ability to stay on track. My neck hurts.

Malon looks around nervously and begins to clench and unclench her fists as if she's afraid of my reaction. "Well," she begins slowly, "please, please, please do not kill me, okay?"

"Just tell me!" I demand, exasperated. Seriously, why can't I just take the lens and look into her brain? Maybe the problem will be written right there for me to see. Hey, maybe underneath it will be written something like, "I have a huge crush on Link and think he's totally dreamy." Heh.

I snap back to reality as Malon sighs. "Okay, so some kids were messing around in the graveyard today, and they stupidly moved around some headstones."

I groan; moving headstones only has one result, and _everyone _knows what it is. "How stupid _were _these kids?" I ask.

She laughs bitterly. "I gave them hell afterwards, believe me. They thought it would be fun and heroic to fight some ghosts, I suppose. Anyway, they released four of five Poe, all of which were cunning enough to stay hidden until the boys had moved several headstones.

"Soon, though, the boys were surrounded by Poe. One of them managed to escape being totally circumvented, and so he ran back here. The other boys had very little protection, and what little they had was all homemade and untested. Their mothers and other townsfolk were totally flipping out. Unfortunately, a lot of people had seen me here with a sword, even though I never left the inn, and I only carried my dagger with me outside of my room." She sighs. "Link, they were begging me to do it. What was I supposed to do? They consider me expendable, since I'm a stranger, I guess. But if I refused, they might have kept pressuring me until those boys were dead. I didn't know if anyone else would be able to do it."

"There are guards here," I point out. Before Malon can retort, or Navi can chide me for being unsupportive, I add, "I don't think that you should have argued that. I think that they should have asked a guard to take care of it. I think you're right, that they considered you expendable. They also probably wanted to see if you could even fight, or if you were doing something masculine as a statement by carrying a sword and wearing pants."

She smiles briefly, and I feel warm. We're totally screwed, but she knows I'm there for her. The feeling brushes away some of the cloying shadows from the Temple.

Malon continues: "So I went to the graveyard and took care of the Poe. It's not too difficult with a shield and some well-timed blows. It only took a few minutes before they dropped their lanterns, and the old potions lady captured them for personal use. The boys were a little bruised and scratched, and aside from really learning their lesson, they're fine."

"So what's the problem?" Navi asks. While Malon has sort of ruined the whole "inconspicuous" thing that we had already been failing at, it's not the end of the world. We're leaving Kakariko soon anyway.

Malon pales slightly and begins to wring her hands. She glances towards the street and then back at my face briefly, and I realize that she's about to cry. "Dad saw me," she says softly.

Fuck. I pull her to me tightly. Not good.

I'd almost forgotten that Talon lives here now, getting drunk all day. I'd forgotten that seeing Malon might drive him mad. I'd forgotten the ramifications that might follow if he talks about seeing her. Ganondorf has ears everywhere. He would know that a little girl disappeared along with the little boy who defied him and then led him to the Triforce. Shit, shit, shit.

"And I know he knew it was me," she continues, pausing to sob a little bit. "Oh, the look on his face was awful, like I betrayed him or something. Link, he knows it's me!"

"It's okay," I whisper to her. I wish I could make her stop crying. I hate when she cries. I feel helpless, and she feels, well, sad.

"Okay," Navi says, trying to take control of the situation. "Okay, we have to talk to him. Otherwise, he'll talk, and we can't take that chance."

"What if he doesn't believe us?" I ask. "Or what if he tries to kill me?" I add, suddenly wanting to hide somewhere. I have enough people trying to kill me. Well, monsters. Who cares? I'm on some wanted list somewhere.

"What choice do we have?" Navi points out. She's always right, and I sigh.

"I do want to see him again," Malon whispers through my shirt. "I want him to know what happened, and why I didn't find him immediately. I mean, he's my dad. I love him."

"I know," I tell her, sort of talking to her hair. "We'll figure something out."

Soon, Malon is waiting in our room in the inn, and I'm wandering around Kakariko, trying to find Talon. He's not at the inn he usually drinks at, and he's not at any of the bars even though it's getting late. He's not in the graveyard, although someone is cleaning up the broken glass, and he's not at the gamehouse, competing for any prizes. I mean, I don't know why he'd be there, but it was worth a shot. The guards at either gate haven't seen him at all, and they know what he looks like from the drunken bar fights they've broken up.

I wander back to the inn, and Navi keeps reassuring me that Malon won't be too devastated that I've failed to locate her dad. How hard is it to locate drunk people? They stumble all over the place, and they are loud. That means that they are easy to spot, and I can't seem to do it. I suck big time.

As I reach the inn, my air supply is cut off _again _as I'm pulled behind some fencing. "Geez!" I croak as I wrench away the person's fingers. I whirl around to see Talon, glaring at me menacingly. "Geez!" I repeat again. Not good. Bad, you might say. Definitely not good.

"Where is she?!" he spits, and I wipe the spittle from my cheek. Eeeew. "I know you took her, you son of a bitch! Now where is she?!"

He's not being so quiet, and one of the last things I need (besides him killing me or something) is attracting the attention of any of the townsfolk. We've already drawn so much attention to ourselves, and I already feel overwhelmed. What if someone alerts Ganondorf and he sends out assassins? Sheik's words from last week ring in my mind. If he ends up being right, I'm going to be _so _pissed off.

"Calm down, calm down," I hiss as I hold up my hands defensively. I think it's ridiculous that I feel so threatened; I have more weapons on me than an ultra-prepared soldier, and I'm faced with an out-of-shape drunkard. But still, he could get us killed, and that's a lot more power in his court. "I came to find you to bring you to her," I say quickly, noticing that he seems about ready to start an outdoor bar fight.

"You'd better, you miserable piece of scum!" he sneers.

Such a pleasant man.

I keep trying to calm Talon down while we step into the inn. I can see heads turn as we make our way up the stairs. So much for not attracting attention. Talon, the village drunk for the past seven years, is heading up the stairs of an inn with that strange man who's been in town, and whose lady friend is probably upstairs waiting. The scenario lends itself to talk. Never have I been so aware of what people might think of me.

Talon doesn't actually know what room Malon is waiting in, but he's walking incredibly quickly down the long hallway. I'm almost running in an attempt to stay ahead of him so he can follow me. He nearly bowls into me when I stop in front of our door. "Uh, it's right here, sir," I say meekly. I sound so damn weak that I almost don't realize that I've spoken. I think it might be Navi for a moment, but then I acknowledge that yes, I'm a wimp sometimes. But sometimes, there's a scary alcoholic guy who's pissed at you.

I open the door, prepared to stand by Malon's side as we explain the situation to her father. But as soon as the door is open, Talon rushes in and slams the door behind him. Navi crawls out of my hat. "Well," she begins, but then she pauses. "Geez," she finishes. "Let's go downstairs, I guess."

I'm not comfortable leaving Malon alone with Talon, even if he's her dad. But I feel too rude to eavesdrop, and Navi's already halfway down the hall. When we reach the common room, a barmaid comes by to offer us some supper. It's only now that I realize how late it is, almost five in the afternoon. But as hungry as we are, Navi wants to wait for Malon to eat dinner. Instead I just ask for some hot tea to try and drive out the shadows that still flutter over me. I'd ask for an ale, but right now I don't trust myself to drink just one. Soon enough, my tea is here, and I feel comfortable about my decision. The hot, spicy flavor is warming me up without alcohol.

"So, do you think I'm screwed?" I ask cautiously.

"I definitely hope not," she replies. She lets out a sigh. "Is it that bad that I just don't want Sheik to be right?"

I laugh as I take another sip, and hot tea nearly fills up my nasal cavity. I swallow first before replying. "I feel the same damn way," I tell her. "I have no idea why he's being such a baby about it. What does he care if I'm spending time with Malon anyway? He's not upset that I'm spending time with you, and from the way he was going on, it didn't seem like he would care if I spent time with Zelda, Saria, or Ruto."

"Just Malon," Navi murmurs. "Maybe he has a crush on her," she says thoughtfully. "That's the only explanation I can think of."

"How do you figure?" I ask before lifting up the dainty little tea cup again. It feels too small, too delicate for my hand. I'm unused to handling porcelain, or anything so high end. It's not for me. It's too cold, too expensive, too . . . I want a real mug, damnit.

"Well, he doesn't like how you're spending time with Malon. But you're free to spend time with anyone else. Didn't you notice how he was arguing how the other girls are equally worth your time? I think he'd rather you had a thing for Zelda than for Malon. That way, nothing would happen with you and Malon, which would let him sort of swoop down, I guess." She makes a swooping gesture with her hand.

I grimace at the words "swoop down." I'm already feeling guilty enough by leaving Malon upstairs with her father. And I feel over-protective as it is. I think about Malon's dagger, although I don't know why she'd need to use it right now. I have so much trouble with issues that cannot be resolved with a sword.

We continue to wait in silence, sometimes discussing some mundane items of business, such as buying new provisions, mending clothes, repairing weapons. Every time I set the tea cup back onto its dainty little saucer, I fear I might break it. The little white china set is just so out of place here, in this inn, and in this day and time.

After leaving our table and our tip, Navi and I wander cautiously up the stairs. We can't hear much except murmuring from our room, even when we press our ears up to the door. I shrug; maybe we should go back downstairs and wait until Malon comes to get us. But Navi knocks on the door with as much force as she can. It's enough to stop the voices behind the door, and I freeze. I half expect to see one of the two former ranchers on the floor in a pool of blood, begging the other for mercy. I know I'm being unreasonable, but I can't even begin to think of anything good that can come of this situation.

My heart beats loudly in my ears as I hear Malon clearly say to come in. As I push open the door, I feel as if my blood vessels are going to explode from the stress of just not knowing. I wish I could have seen through this door, just to make sure that everything was okay. Unfortunately, the lens isn't much help when I need it the most. Or in general.

I thank every single Goddess when I see that Malon is sitting on the edge of the bed with Talon, and his arm is around her shoulders. They've both been crying, but Malon is smiling at me as Navi and I enter, and only now do I realize that I've been holding my breath. When I finally start breathing, I feel lightheaded.

"So, uh," I say eloquently.

Malon laughs a little, although it's clear to me that she's on the verge of tears again. I wish that Talon would move so I could take his place, but I know that it's not going to happen. "Everything's okay," she says to me, blinking away the tears that I know she wants to let loose again. "I told Dad what happened, and why I didn't come to him sooner."

"I understand why you two didn't come to me immediately," Talon says gruffly. "I think those Sages must have a low opinion of me, though, if they thought it would make me go crazy."

"The Sages have low opinions of a lot of good people," I say seriously. Malon blushes. She remembers Rauru's attitude as well as I do. I turn to Talon. I wish my heart would calm down a little. Clearly, he's not going to kill me, right? "I'm very sorry, sir. I know that I can't possibly begin to understand how hard these past seven years have been for you. But please rest assured that I am doing my best to keep Malon safe, and I've wished, since day one, that Malon hadn't come with me that day."

Talon's facial expression lets me know that I've said the right thing to appease him. But Malon's facial expression isn't as promising. At first, her brow furrows as she takes in what I've just said. And then I see her look up at me, eyes fiery with understanding. I wish there were some switch I could press to rewind everything. I'm the Hero of stupid Time, and yet I can't seem to go back and just _not _say that. Navi has noticed as well, and she quickly flies under my hat.

"Well, young man," Talon says, and I know that he totally missed what just happened. "I can't say that I'm pleased with this situation." His eyes are bleary, but he doesn't seem drunk. "But I'm not going to run off and gab about this whole mess to anyone. Lucky for you, these days, people don't take me so seriously anyway."

"Thank you, sir," I say, trying to keep the whiney teen out of my voice. I don't know why, but suddenly I feel the need to grow up even more than the too-old seventeen. "And please, if there's anything I can do for you, please let me know. And I understand that it's not going to really fix anything."

I was not expecting his eyes to light up so much. Goddesses, I should really make promises only after I know the conditions.

Malon sends me a warning glace as she closes the door behind her. Navi floats along with her, since I don't want her to walk back from the tavern alone after saying goodbye to her father. And so now, I'm all alone, with just my stupid, not-ten, not-seventeen thoughts.

I think Malon is going to kill me. I can tell I upset her earlier, and now I've made a promise that I don't think I'll be able to keep. Somehow, for some reason, I have agreed to get the ranch back for Talon. Maybe it was the overwhelming guilt I have, and the responsibility I feel for taking away his daughter and ruining his life. Maybe it's because I'm an idiot. Either way, I can't possibly think of any real way to get the Goddessforsaken ranch back. What am I supposed to do? Go up to Ingo and ask nicely? Beat him over the head with a shovel? Well, that would certainly be easy, if not terribly effective in the long run. Oh, violence. Tempting violence.

I hear steps coming down the hallway about twenty minutes later, but all I've managed to come up with is the whole shovel idea. It dawns on me that maybe I should have spent some time thinking about how to explain myself to Malon in regards to my earlier comments. I am in _such _trouble.

The door opens, and I see Malon and Navi framed in the light from the candles in the hall. I had lost track of time, but apparently, the sun is starting to set. But I can clearly see Malon's face burning with anger. Navi can, too. "I'll be downstairs, I guess," she says quickly, and Malon carefully closes the door behind her.

I'm searching for a place to hide. But before I can dive under the bed, it's begun.

"I can't believe you," she starts.

"Malon, please let me explain," I plead. I hold out my hands, my empty hands and arms. I wish that this weren't happening. I don't know what there is to explain, but I figure it's a good thing to say.

"Explain what?" she spits at me. Her face is bright red, and her eyes are burning. "Explain why you don't want me here? Explain how I hinder you? How I can't take care of myself? This isn't some game of 'Princess and Hero,' Link!" She lets out a strangled cry as she throws up her hands. "What am I to you? Some tag-along little girl who always needs to be protected? You told me that you didn't agree with Sheik last week, and now you're talking about how you're taking care of me and wish I weren't here. Go explain that, you bastard!"

I get up, thinking that maybe if I'm standing, I'll command more attention. Or something. I don't know, I just can't sit here. But then she runs into the bathroom and locks it. "Just get out of here!" she shouts in between tears. "I'll stay with my dad, and you can go on your own! Then you'll be happy!"

"Malon!" I shout through the door. My voice sounds hoarse, even though I've hardly been talking. This is just overwhelming. I've spent the past week in the Shadow Temple, on edge, stressed out, dirty, unhappy, tired, scared. I finally get out, finally get back to the sun, and now everything is crumbling beneath my feet.

But she won't listen still. "You wish I had never come with you? Well, now I wish the same! Here, I thought I was worth something, that I was helping you. But this whole time, you've wished I'd stayed, never come with you. What does our friendship mean to you? What do _I _mean to you?" And then she's crying again, and I can hear her moving across the bathroom, to be as far from the door as possible.

I contemplate using my lock-pick as she sobs, but I can't break that bond of trust. I've hurt her enough, but she needs to unlock this door herself if things are going to be okay. But I've got to talk to her. I need a turn here.

"Malon, please come out," I croak. My face feels hot, my stomach is tied in the most complicated knot ever, and my legs shake. "Please, let me explain so things can be okay." I'm just too tired to carry on with this whole mess. I just want to tell her what I really meant and then fall into unconsciousness. She heard what I said, but not the real meaning, and I need to fix it.

"You can tell me through the door, you pig!" is her reply.

Of course. "All right," I say, trying to calm myself down. "First of all, while I believe you are capable of defending yourself, I still want to protect you. It's because I care about you, not because I think little of you. I wouldn't have given you your own weapon if I didn't expect you to defend yourself. You've proven to me that you're a capable warrior, and I'm proud to be your companion."

I pause, letting her consider this information for a while. "And?" she asks expectantly.

And the rest. "And while, yes, I have wished sometimes that you hadn't come with me that day … Malon, I feel so guilty. I took you away from your father, your horse, your ranch. I took you away from your life, all because I was too much of a coward to do my job myself. Because of me, your family has lost the ranch, and your father is miserable. If I wish that you had stayed on the ranch, it's because I want you to be happy, even if it means that you're not here with me."

I slump down next to the door. That's all I can say, I guess. If she doesn't believe me, then fine. There's nothing else I can do. Either way, I've promised her father a ranch, and we need to start planning.

But the door opens, and I'm flat on my back, with my head smacking the tiles of the bathroom floor. "Shit," I hiss as the back of my head radiates pain. Malon's face hovers above mine, and I squint at her as the candles she's lit create a halo around her head. "Malon, please believe me," I say as I try to ignore the fact that I might have a minor head injury. "You're all I ever think about." I'd clamp my hand over my mouth, but it's too late; I've already said it.

She's quiet, which is killing me. I think she's going to say something, but instead, she simply stands up and walks out into the room. She sits on the bed, arms wrapped around her knees.

I don't understand girls. But I do understand that I smell pretty gross right now. I feel like I should go talk to her, or touch her in some way. Instead, I close the door, toss my clothes into the bucket of water we've been using to wash stuff in, throw my underwear onto the floor, and start running a bath.

The water is cold and a little greasy-looking by the time I finally step out and dry myself off. I quickly towel my hair as best I can to make sure it doesn't drip all over the place. As I let it dry, I put on my underwear and start washing my clothes so they'll be dry tomorrow. Meanwhile, I have some extra clothes to wear when we eat dinner.

Ugh, eating dinner. How's that going to go? With Navi's eyes darting back and forth between Malon and me, with Malon staring at her food, picking at it, with me pretending to be interested in the patterns of wooden knots in the ceiling. Maybe I just won't eat. Ha, yeah _right. _

By the time I've scrubbed the dirt and blood from my tunic and pants, and hung them up to dry (and to my relief, there aren't any new holes), my hair is as dry as it'll get for the night. I open the door to find that Malon has lit the candles in the room, but she's now lying on the bed again, staring down at the patterns on the quilt. She still looks angry, but the hard look on her face doesn't look quite like the product of that emotion alone. What am I supposed to do or say?

Well, maybe getting dressed will help me clear my mind. At least, it's a lot less awkward when I'm not prancing around in shorts. I pull a clean shirt and tunic from my pack before digging in to find my extra pair of pants and a clean pair of socks. Malon is silent behind me as I dress, even when I nearly fall over trying to get one of my socks on. I keep trying to think of what I should do or say, but I do my best to shut my brain up. I'll figure it out when I need to. But first, I need to finish getting my head through my shirt.

I can see that there are tears coating her cheeks when I finally sit down beside her. Is she still mad at me? She's not pushing me away or getting off the bed. She hasn't stiffened in anticipation either. I stare awkwardly at her hand lying between us. It's relaxed, not tense. Almost resigned.

I don't know if what I'm doing is the best idea at first, but she doesn't flinch or move away when I put my arm around her shoulders. Better still, she doesn't freeze or jump when I pull her a little closer. And my heart beats a little irregularly when she reaches across my chest and hugs me back. I don't think she's upset at me. I think she's just upset.

"Hard day?" I ask. For the first time, there's no interest in my week, my journey. I was just doing my job, as always. Malon is the one who has been on the adventure today, and I am just traveling along with her.

"You have _no _idea," she moans. And soon, although haltingly at first, she begins to talk.

She had been terrified to fight the Poe, I learn. Not only had she accidentally angered one as a young child, thus leaving her with a slight phobia, but she lacked the blind courage she had somehow found when she fought the invisible well spirit (which I know now was Bongo Bongo, whom I, mighty Link, have disposed of). She had the townsfolk pressuring her from all sides, and guards claiming to be untrained in supernatural matters. She was torn between two options: helping the townsfolk or refusing on the grounds that the guards should handle it, not a young, untrained woman. Either way, she told me, she thought I would be angry with her. While she correctly concluded that I would be ticked off if she went to the graveyard, she also feared that by refusing to help, she would give both of us a bad reputation, and while at best, we might just find it very hard to find a friendly face in Kakariko, at worst, someone might alert Ganondorf. I feel a little sick as I consider her options from this point of view. I guess she picked the best option.

She continues, tears running down her face again, to describe talking with her dad. She admits that she's also wished she had stayed home that day, seven years ago. But she had only thought it because she hoped that I would say otherwise, and validate _those _feelings. Instead, and I hang my head as she continues, I had confirmed the feelings that she had wanted to be unreasonable. She wants to be wanted. And I didn't communicate to her that it was true; she _is _wanted.

"I just miss Dad and Epona and the ranch so much," she says softly. "And I feel guilty, you know?"

"Because you also like being here?" I ask tentatively.

She smiles. "Yeah. And a little bit because I feel like I deserted them. Like they should come, too or something."

There's a knock at the door. "You guys, are we ever going to get dinner?" Navi asks through the wood.

I look at the clock in the corner of the room, and I see Malon do the same in my peripheral vision. It's already seven in the evening, and Navi and I haven't eaten since this morning. "Geez," Malon whispered. "I talk a lot."

"It's okay," I tell her as I laugh a little. I like that she talks. "Get us a table, Navi," I call out. "We'll be down in a minute." We hear her acknowledge us as she goes back down the hall.

"Well, I'm going to change," Malon says, sighing. Her sigh isn't unhappy any more; it's more of a sigh of relief. "Thanks for letting me talk. I'm sorry I bit your head off earlier." She smiles at me.

I smile back, but I am a little confused. "Change into what?" I ask stupidly. "You're dressed."

She nods. "I'm aware of that. But I feel a little sticky, and I also want to show off a little something I bought a few days ago."

"Oh-la-la," I grin. I hope it's a low-cut dress with a short skirt. It'll show the parts of her that I see when she's in her undergarments. And I like those parts. Over this past week, I've become okay with liking those parts.

She laughs and starts to get up. But instead of rolling towards the other side of the bed, she moves up on top of me and plants her lips on mine. I sit up with the shock of it, but when she pulls back uncertainly, I lean in again. This is kind of fun. It feels pretty nice.

Ew, not so fun when I accidentally stick my tongue in her mouth. That feels _weird._ Hmm, maybe not _that _weird. Wait, lemme try that again. Can something be weird, gross, _and _really good at the same time? One of my hands is propping me up, but my other hand somehow makes its way to her waist. I think our breathing is speeding up.

But then Malon breaks the kiss, for good this time. "Okay, Navi's going to be pissed if we don't get downstairs." I wish Navi could wait. But Malon's new dress (although I am disappointed to see that it's not incredibly revealing) is going to make dinner very worthwhile.

Oh, and the food will make dinner worthwhile. I miss food.

* * *

I hope that the kiss wasn't fluffy. It's based on a real first kiss I had recently, and I really didn't feel as if the kiss was fluffy when it happened. The "French kissing is weird but good" part was from my own experience weird ago (if you're young, and you haven't done it yet . . . it's WEIRD, man), but the rest is pretty faithful to the actual experience.

Please review! It encourages me to keep writing, and to finish this story especially. While I think I was able to write from Malon's point-of-view better in Just a Farm Girl, I think that I've been planning this story much more carefully, with better foreshadowing, better consistency, and with more creativity. Please let me know what you think. I reply to all reviews, so please review even if you just a few questions.


	15. Private cloud of gloom

We never should have come to the ranch without a plan. The plan, I think, should have involved Malon staying behind, even though that wouldn't have worked well either. We've drawn too much attention in Kakariko; I don't think we can go back there again. But ever since being hurtled through time, the village has become our home base of operations, it seems. Lon Lon Ranch, Malon's home and the place I kept coming back to, is a shadow of its former self.

Too much at the ranch is different. The animals are miserable, so much so that the hens aren't laying eggs, and the cows aren't giving milk. The one sheep that's left isn't worth shearing; her wool is matted and full of gnarls, mud, sticks, and what I think might even be feces. With the strange exception of Epona, all of the horses are underfed, and their coats are as dull as dirt. The vegetable garden in the west end of the ranch is nothing more than a sprawl of weeds, paint peels from the house, and one entire side of the barn is rotting. The grass looks dead. To make matters worse, my loft (_my _loft!) is inhabited by three, greasy teenaged assistants, who do nothing but sleep all day. I'm hardly exaggerating either, which is the worst part.

Too much, though, is the same. Ingo's familiar face greeted us two days ago when we first arrived. He seemed eager enough for our money that he didn't care much for our cover story (that I had hurt my ankle, and I needed to rest it for a few days before heading back to Kakariko—never mind that we _came_from Kakariko). The buildings are all still there, even the rickety chicken coop on the side of the barn. Malon's room, the room that Ingo is letting us stay in, looks much the same as it did seven years ago. Although I didn't spend very much time in here at all as a child, I do remember what it looked like. Ingo has even kept it well dusted, it seems.

Epona is unchanged except for her size. She recognized Malon and me right off the bat, but a few words from Malon seem to have magically convinced her to shy away from us. I can feel Malon's desire to just run into the stable, pull Epona out, and ride off into the sunset.

I can feel my farm girl tearing into pieces the longer we stay here. I know it's happening; I feel the same ripping happening in my own bones, although I can tell it's to a lesser degree with me. I can see it in her eyes as she glances toward the gate; she needs to escape from this living hell. But I fear she's going to disintegrate as she walks around the ranch, absorbing the memories of a time long gone.

Again, I should have left her at Kakariko.

We're using aliases again, going by Liam and Kara. I've been wearing an extra tunic, since Navi was worried that Ingo would remember my tunic and hat. She herself has been hiding in Malon's room this whole time. Of course, I've been keeping her company. Since I have to pretend my foot is hurt, there's almost nothing I can do at the ranch, and so I find myself reverting to my old childhood practice: napping on the ranch. This time, however, I'm dozing in Malon's room instead of the loft. I wish those slimy kids would just leave. They sleep more than I do, but Malon witnessed Ingo paying them their weekly wages yesterday. She told me, as we got ready for bed, that she was pretty sure Ingo had handed over all of the rupees we had paid him to stay here.

And so I nap and keep Navi company. We can't talk if Ingo is in the house, since he might overhear us and discover our identities. But we're both bored out of our skulls.

Malon has been trying to make herself useful without giving herself away, and from the way she lands on the bed at night, I know it's taking a toll on her. She spends most of her time working on the garden. The sun hasn't shone the entire time we've been here, and any water poured onto the soil seems to keep seeping down until the surface is dry again, no matter how much is splashed into the dusty dirt. Malon feels comfortable that she can work on the garden, and the terrible conditions will prevent her green thumb from succeeding. She stays away from the barn at all costs, partially because of the grease-balls in the loft, but mostly because she doesn't think she can handle herself if she's that close to the animals, especially Epona. So instead, she gardens, cooks, and cleans up for Ingo, just to keep busy. I can tell that when she stops moving, stops working, her thoughts catch up with her. I've noticed that she hasn't been sleeping so much.

And struggling to fall asleep as she lies beside me is the closest Malon and I have come to continuing what began in Kakariko, before had to go to dinner. Navi's presence would be an issue if Malon and I were actually trying to have time alone, but it's obvious that Malon is in no mood to explore the thing going on between us. I don't blame her at all. It would be stupid to blame her. Of course, it's all I can do to keep myself from pulling her into my arms and kissing her again. But I can only give Malon the comfort she wants, and right now, it seems that sleeping next to me and the occasional caress are as much as she wants.

Navi knows, since she's observant. I didn't want to lie to her when she asked me directly about what was going on between Malon and me. She seemed pleased, but not so excited that I felt uncomfortable, and now, while Malon numbs herself with mindless tasks, Navi and I talk about what the kiss meant, how Malon maybe feels, and what on earth is going on between us. I think Malon knows that we talk about her, but she doesn't seem to care. I want to kick the wall every time I see her listless, pale face.

I know that Sheik and the Sages are counting on us to get to the final Temple to awaken the final Sage, and so I told Malon that we could only stay for a few days. A few days have stretched into five already, and Malon is now upset with me because this morning, I made it clear that if she wants to stay longer, that's fine, but tomorrow morning, I'm leaving, and so is Navi. I've been feeling rotten about it, but Navi keeps telling me that we really do have to leave, and if we stay and keep staying, just for Malon, we'll be proving Sheik right. And, hey, let's face it: no one wants that.

Since I need to pretend my ankle is feeling better so that we don't arouse suspicion when I'm mysteriously well enough to leave tomorrow, I head downstairs and outside. The poor horses are in the corral, trying to find some nutrition in the dead grass. In the gloom, it's hard to tell what colors the horses are. Or what color they would be if they were well-fed.

To my surprise, Malon is inside the corral, leaning against the fence. When I enter and lean beside her, I can see that she's looking wishfully at the horses. I can also tell by her facial expression that she's trying not to look sad or cry; that would be hard to explain to Ingo.

"Liam, great to see you out and about!" Ingo is walking over to us from the barn. "How's the ankle?" He's probably not that excited about my ankle. The longer I stay, the lighter my purse, after all.

"It's finally feeling better," I say to him as he walks into the corral. "I think that it's finally time to get to Kakariko tomorrow, but I really appreciate you putting us up." It's true; he could have turned us away. Ingo isn't the greatest guy in the world, that's for sure, but he's certainly not inherently evil. We're all flawed.

"Well, that's fantastic!" he practically guffaws. I grin back, trying to show as many teeth as I can. Can he tell it's fake? Can he see the smaller, more private cloud of gloom that surrounds me and my companion, one that's separate from the one covering the ranch?

"We're glad to be on our way," I say, "but I have to say, this sure is a nice ranch, and I'll be sad to leave." Malon and I have been maxing ourselves out with our fake attitudes, but it seems to be keeping suspicion at bay.

To my surprise, Malon speaks. "I'll be sad, too," she says with an exaggerated sigh. "I've loved horses ever since I was a little girl, and it's been nice to finally get to be near some in person. I'll miss them after tomorrow." I feel a little panicky at her admission. Would Ingo put together her appearance and her love of horses? He could be a jerk, but he isn't completely dense.

He doesn't seem to pick up on it, though, since his eyes twinkle with the spark that lets us know he's going to get more money out of us. "Why, Miss Kara, I had no idea! Would you like to try riding one? I'll only ask for ten rupees for a nice few minutes on one of these beauties."

"Oh, Liam, would that be okay with you?" she asks, and if Ingo weren't here, and if the ranch weren't the most hellish place on earth, I would have laughed at her expression. She's very good at playing her part as my sweetheart. Of course, it makes me feel very insecure about whether or not she's, you know, my _actual_sweetheart.

"Sure," I say as I pull out the money. After snatching it out of my hand, Ingo hurries off to get a saddle, calling to Malon to pick a horse she likes. "Are you sure about this?" I ask her nervously. "I trust you," I add quickly.

"I'll pretend to suck at riding," she assures me as she moves through the small group of horses. "And I won't pick Epona."

"Okay," I say nervously. Soon, Ingo is back, and he does a poor job of saddling up the horse that Malon has chosen. She hasn't chosen Epona, who looks a little peeved at being passed over, but she did make sure that her horse was the strongest and largest of the sad, malnourished horses.

For a few minutes, Malon lets Ingo lead her around on the horse, although it cost me another ten rupees. Finally, she wistfully begs for him to let her ride without his help, and soon, she's riding around at a slow trot. Ingo is calling out terrible and rather inaccurate instructions about how to post, but Malon is pretending that his directions make sense; soon, she's trotting comfortably on the track outside the corral. Ingo tells her how to canter when she keeps asking to go faster, but after a minute or so of that fast pace, she slows down. I know she doesn't want to hurt the poor horse she's riding, but she tells Ingo that she assumed that her time was up.

As she brings the horse back to the corral, I can see her petting him and whispering into his ear. The horse that had been so despondent before it had been ridden is somehow excited and eager to keep on running, in spite of his exhaustion and malnutrition. I smile; Malon is really just _that _good with animals. Ingo is congratulating her on her progress, although I can only tell from his animated movements and his punctuated words. But then he's speaking to her a little less animatedly. I see his hands rubbing together, and I know he wants to get more money. Again.

They both come up to me, leading the horse. "So," Ingo says to me, his mouth twitching, "I was thinking about maybe having a race with Kara here, since she's such a natural talent. Whaddya say we make a little wager of, oh, maybe fifty rupees?"

I look to Malon, and from her small smile, I know that this is something she's going to do, regardless of what I think. And so I put down the fifty rupees and Ingo goes to get another set of tack.

"What the hell are you thinking?" I hiss.

"I know," she says, her voice full of guilt. But her eyes are sparkling for the first time all week, since we got here and saw what had become of her home. "But I know I can beat him!"

"Which will maybe make him suspect," I point out. We're so screwed.

She rolls her eyes. "So long as he has money, he doesn't care, so he'll just challenge you again. He's only got eyes for rupees, Link. He has no clue it's us." She smiles. "Besides, he's riding Epona, not me."

"How does that help?" I ask. Epona is the daughter of two of the fastest horses Hyrule has ever seen, according to Malon. "Won't you lose?"

She grins impishly. "Epona won't let anyone else but me ride her, and she's always disliked Ingo. Besides, Bric-a-Brac here, even though he's not in the best shape, is eager to keep running for me." She gives a fond pat to the horse's neck, and he automatically nuzzles her. "Seriously, just watch and play dumb."

And so I do. Ingo does just as poor a job saddling up Epona, and she makes a great display of her displeasure. I watch nervously as Malon and Ingo line themselves up on the track, using one of the gateposts as the starting and finishing line. As I stand nervously near the track, I heard the barn door open and shut. Those three greasy assistants have filed out and are standing a few feet away from me to watch their boss race my companion.

I hear Ingo count down from three, but he takes off at "two" instead. Malon isn't keeping up, it seems, and I'm getting really nervous. I mean, it doesn't matter that much if she loses. But still, I have a desperate feeling. I know how devastating this week has been for her, and maybe the outcome of this race is going to decide whether I leave here with my friend Malon, or with a broken person. I'm scared, to be honest.

But to my surprise, Malon pulls up alongside Ingo as they come around the stretch, and although I don't know how I know this, as Malon crosses the finish line first, I can _tell_that she has orchestrated this whole race from the beginning, and she's planned to finish the race by just enough that it seems close, but not close enough for Ingo to contest the outcome.

And he's not too happy. "Double or nothing," he says to us. "And I'll let you use this horse instead," he adds, gesturing to Epona. "She's an incredible animal; I'm presenting her to King Ganondorf soon, in a week's time in fact. It would be an honor for you to ride her."

Malon looks at me, and I realize that we could keep going on forever making bets on races. "If I could speak with Kara privately for a moment," I say to Ingo, and he gives us enough space that if we whisper, he can't hear us.

"Malon," I say, "how far is this going to go?"

"I have an idea," she says quickly. "I know, I know, he's going to keep asking for retries until he wins. But I want you to raise the stakes much higher, so high he won't be able to resist the bet. But it also has to be high enough that he won't be able to pay you if we win."

"How much is that?" I ask. Wow, if she can orchestrate a race and scheme at the same time, she must be an incredible rider.

"I snuck a look into his lockbox last night," she whispers. "I was giving him a few rupees to replace a chipped cup that he said I broke." The frown she's been wearing all week returns briefly. "Of course, we've had that cup for as long as I can remember, and I know for a fact that Dad chipped it when I was five, but _anyway,_he's only got about fifty rupees in there anyway. I think he has to give most of the money to the grease-balls, to be honest. I see him giving them ridiculously high wages every evening."

"Okay, so should I go for a hundred? That's not that much money, to be honest, and he could easily insist on giving us items of value in return, like your old jewelry."

She grimaces at the thought. "You're right. How much do we have?"

I check my wallet and roll my eyes. "A lot less since we got here, but I've got a couple thousand." She grins at me, and I just sigh.

Ingo is astonished when I make the wager. "T-t-t-two thousand?" he asks, stunned. For a moment, I'm terrified that he's figured out that there's something more going on than friendly betting. Soon, however, it's clear that he's just taking in the thought of getting so much money from us. "Well, that's incredible! Do you really have two thousand to wager?"

I nod and pull out the rupees for him to see. Before he can grab them, I slip them back into my wallet. The grease-balls eye me suspiciously. "Do you have two thousand?" I ask. "I can't make this wager if there's a chance that you're betting more than you have."

Ingo begins to sweat, and I can feel that Malon is emanating smugness beside me. "Well, uh, I …" he begins, but he just keeps sweating.

"How about you get the two thousand if you win," Malon says clearly, "and if I win, I'll just pick something that I want from you."

I can see the angel and the devil on Ingo's shoulder as one tells him to take the bet and the other one is trying to convince him that we're Link and Malon, and that Malon is going to win the race no matter what. His eyes dart back and forth, and I can see sweat stains forming on his shirt.

"Deal!" he finally cries before shaking Malon's hand, and then mine. I can feel the eyes of the greasy teens on me as I turn to watch Ingo and Malon switching horses and lining up at the starting line once again.

And again, Ingo starts on "two" instead of "one … go," and Malon begins the race behind. I can see that Bric-a-Brac no longer seems too eager to race, and Malon is almost struggling to stay behind. I see her leaning to whisper into Epona's ear, convincing her friend to pretend to be slow, pretend to hate her rider, if only for a little while.

As they round that same corner, Bric-a-Brac becomes completely non-cooperative, slowing his gallop to a light canter. He seems to be trying to break free from the track itself, and Ingo is having a hard time reining him in. Right then, I see Malon subtly shift her position on her horse, and Epona seems to know what this means. I feel as if my eyelids are going to tear if I try to open my eyes any wider, but I'm just floored. Malon and Epona are at the finish line so quickly that Ingo doesn't even bother to cross it himself. He immediately jumps from Bric-a-Brac, who returns to calmly grazing, and rushes over to Malon.

Oh, shit. What if he hurts her? I rush to Malon, who has just dismounted. Epona is pawing the grass proudly, and Ingo is sputtering.

"But how—she never lets—how could you—it's not possible!" he cries. "That blasted horses never lets anyone ride her!" Epona snorts, as if she resents this comment. Come to think of it, she probably does resent it. I think she can understand us. "How did you do this?" he screams.

I don't think Malon was ready for this reaction, since she looks genuinely scared. I quickly put my arm around her and glare angrily at Ingo. My face is red with anger. "Hey, it's not her fault if she didn't have trouble riding the horse!" I shout back. "Are you suggesting that my girlfriend somehow magically made the horse work? She's never even ridden a horse before today!"

"I know, but—it's just—I don't—no sense at—how—It's just so unlikely!"

"I agree, Mr. Ingo," I say, feigning sympathy to try to get him to calm down. "But you made a wager, and you lost."  
He sighs, and I realize that Malon's plan has worked. He knows that there's nothing more that he can bet. She has finally discovered a way to end the constant wagering. "If you'll give me a moment to talk to Mr. Ingo and decide what I want," she says, and I nod. Maybe she'll ask for a horse, I think as I walk towards the garden. It's certainly improved now that Malon has been working on it for a week. I can see that most of the weeds are gone, even if the dirt is still cracked and dry.

I hope she doesn't ask for Epona, I realize. Ingo said he was giving her to Ganondorf. While I don't want poor Epona to end up in his hands, I can see bad things happening if we were to take her. What would happen if Ganondorf found out that two people fitting our description came to the ranch and took Epona? Bad things, I'll tell you.

I hear an unhappy wail from behind me; my head spins so quickly I almost snap my neck. Ingo is on his knees in front of Malon, with his head in his hands. He appears to have already finished pleading with her, and is now trying to accept what she is taking from him. Well, that does it; we're screwed. She's taking Epona, I guess.

I shield my eyes from the sun as I run over to Malon. "What happened?" I ask, panicked. "What on earth did you ask for?"

She just grins, but she doesn't talk to me yet. "Mr. Ingo, I would appreciate it if you would please go into the house and move your belongings back into your old room. When you are done, please take Bric-a-Brac and Epona into the stable and take care of them. They've worked hard today. Let me know when you're finished."

I open my mouth to ask "What the fuck is going on?" since I think it's pretty appropriate at this point, but before I can get the words out, Ingo stands up and interrupts my not-yet-spoken exclamation.

"Yes, ma'am," he says meekly, and he heads to the house as if he's going to do exactly what she's asked.

And again, before I can exclaim my exclamation, Malon turns to the three assistants who are standing off to the side, glaring at us. "Excuse me!" she shouts to them. "I need one of you to muck the stable, one of you to feed the animals, and one of you to brush the horses." They look at her, confused and angry, but they don't budge. Malon sighs. "Look, if I have to ask you one more time, you're fired. I don't stand for laziness."

"You're not the boss, lady," one of the gits calls out.

"Oh, yes, I am!" she shouts. "I just won the ranch, fair and square. And if you have a problem with that, then please back your bags and go."

"What the fuck is going on?" I finally ask.

She turns to me, and I've never seen her smile like this before. I almost forget that I don't know what's going on. All I want to do is grab her and kiss the hell out of her until we're done kissing and we move on to more interesting things. I mean, I know there's more than kissing.

She can tell I'm not paying attention because she has to nudge me. "Not listening?" she asks with a laugh. "Look, Ingo asked what I wanted, and I told him I wanted the ranch. He made a fuss for a bit, but I told him that he could either give the ranch to me, or he could explain to King Ganondorf why he needed to borrow two thousand rupees."

"This is incredible!" I can't think of too many other words to describe how, well, incredible it is that she just got the ranch back. "And, gee, I thought it was a bad idea to come here without a plan."

She laughs, and oh, _man, _she's leaning in to kiss me, and I'm leaning down to kiss her back, and from the window, Navi shouts, _"Look the hell out!"_

We turn just in time to see the last assistant transforming into a stalfos soldier. The three hulking figures are rushing towards us, and our weapons are all upstairs. Navi isn't strong enough to throw anything out the window to us, and they're almost right on top of us.

So I just charge at them. Hey, if the only weapon I have is my body, then I'm using my body. I'm surprised to find that the bones don't fall into a heap; what's holding them together? Evil? What an energy source! But at least he's knocked over for a moment, and I can grab the legs of the second one. I bring him down before he can leap on Malon.

But now I'm on the ground as the third skeleton is advancing towards her with his serrated sword, and she's already backed up to the side of the barn. I try to get up to stop what I know is about to happen, but the stalfos I bowled over has gotten up. I know this because he slams me in the back with his shield. The only reason I know that my spine isn't severed is because I can feel the terrible pain throughout my body as I fall to the dirt. And the stalfos is raising the sword above Malon, and he's about to bring it down into her chest …

And it stops. And I'm an _idiot._Malon is defending herself with her dagger, which she's using to block the sword. It's clearly only effective for a few moments, but it's long enough to prevent her from being slaughtered. Was it ever going to occur to me that I had a similar dagger in my own boot at this very moment? Apparently not.

I ignore the screaming pain as I pull out my weapon in time to shove it up into my assailant's ribcage. While there's nothing in there, he screeches in pain and tries to shy back. I turn to face the stalfos I brought down, but he's still down, with Malon's knife finishing him off. Right before I turn to eliminate my first attacker, I realize that Malon has already disposed of her would-be killer as well as the floored skeleton.

Finally, the bones burn away, and we're left alone outside the ranch, returning our knives to our boots. "Took you long enough!" she chuckles breathlessly. "I had mine out as soon as I saw them, and meanwhile you were just barreling into them."

"Well, hey, I was still in shock over the whole ranch thing," I laugh back. As she smiles at me, I return to the moment we were having before the assistants turned to bones. I figure that the more time we take talking and building up the moment, the higher the chance is that we'll be interrupted. And so I just lean down and catch her lips with mine, and soon one of her hands is on my shoulder, and the other is in my hair. I'm pulling her to me as tightly as possible, trying to figure out how hard we can press our lips together without causing any bruising. My heart rate is higher than it was while we were just fighting.

"Get a room!" Navi shouts from the window, and we laugh as we pull apart. "And explain to me what's going on!" she adds. "Why is it sunny now?"

She's right; the sun is out all of a sudden. My face seems as if it might tear with smiling, whereas last night, I thought that Malon, Navi, and I would never smile again. The sun is out, and the dark cloud of evil that has lurked over this ranch for seven years and destroyed the farm? It's gone. The ranch is back in the hands of its rightful owners.

As Ingo exits the house and heads to the corral to take care of the horses, just as Malon had asked, we walked back to the house to appease Navi and her curiousity. "You know," I say, before we're within earshot of Navi, "I've always thought you were incredibly attractive—I mean, since we've grown up," I add when she looks at me funny. "I thought there was no way you could be more attractive, but then you went ahead and kicked ass riding."

She blushes. "Well, I mean—"

"But_then _you just had to totally dominate those stalfos knights," I interrupt, "and so now I think you're breaking rules about how attractive a person is allowed to be."

"Ew!" says Navi, who is now apparently within earshot.

Later that evening, Ingo is gone. He's not fired; he's ridden one of the horses to Kakariko to find Talon. They should be back by tomorrow afternoon or evening. I've acquiesced to stay one more night so that Talon can come back and start setting the ranch back to normal. We'd do it ourselves, but we can't forget the other job that needs to get done. How many more families and homes have been destroyed in the way that Malon's was? But this time, we're bringing Epona with us, to make the journey easier, and to give Malon back the connection to Lon Lon Ranch that she's miss all this time.

Navi is sleeping in Talon's room for the night to give us privacy. She'll be staying in our room tomorrow night, when Ingo and Talon are both back, and I think she can tell that the spark that had fled from Malon's and my new relationship has returned.

We can't close the door, since then Navi wouldn't be able to come in if there was an emergency, but it's closed almost all the way, as is Navi's. And now we're just lying in bed, and since Navi hasn't come by to complain, we don't think our whispers are carrying too much.

Well, we're not whispering that much. Mouths are otherwise occupied.

To be fair, neither of us knows much about this sort of thing. We know things that are described in books, but the books we read when we were younger were for young kids who didn't do this sort of thing. Besides, in our lives, books have always been few and far between. We also know the whole baby-making mess, since it was all explained to us in the famous "monthly cycle" incident. But all of this kissing and touching and skin is unfamiliar on all levels. We have only our instincts to guide us.

I think they're guiding us pretty well because I've never experienced pleasure like this before. It's a very general feeling, all over my body. My body is used to feeling nothing but heat, cold, and pain, as well as other unpleasant sensations. But even now, when Malon is just kissing me, I've never felt so good. She's kissing me frantically right now; we've been experimenting with pacing, and it's been pretty cool. I can feel her underneath me, which is definitely making me feel good. I don't know why, but when she runs her hands down my naked back, I want to … I have no idea. Is this what it feels like to want to have sex? Is sex something more than what you do to have a baby?

Malon whispers in my ear something she wants to try, and I can hear the blood pounding in my ears as I realize how much I want to try it too. Why? No idea. But my hands shake in anticipation as we sit up and I carefully hold the hem of her shirt in my fingers. Slowly, she guides my hands up higher and higher. Soon, the shirt is on the floor, and she and I have made a whole new discovery.

For so many reasons, I am very glad we've gotten the ranch back.

* * *

Okay, I'm not dead. A lot has been going on, both academically and personally. I've had to recover from a very nasty flare-up from a brand new chronic illness, and it took some time (months). I'm back to writing now that I had to write a fairy tale for one of my classes. It's over at FictionPress if you want to check it out. It's totally awesome.

I'm partway through the next chapter of Push. I'm rewriting it because I really don't like some parts of it, but for the most part, I've already gotten the whole chapter done, and I'm just tweaking it. After that, there should be about three more chapters, four at the most. Eeeeee, wrapping things up is freaky. Sorry everything is taking so long.


	16. New discoveries

I have no idea what to do.

See, this is what happens when I do what Sheik tells me: I end up in a jail cell.

Malon and I left the ranch the morning after Talon's return. He was sad to see her go, and I know that she wanted to stay as well. I even told her that if she wanted to stay, I'd understand. But to my immense happiness, she hit me in the shoulder and told me that I was an idiot. Well, sure, but I'm a happy idiot.

Having Epona with us is helpful, but not as helpful as I'd hoped. She can only carry one rider for long distances, and so it's really not worth riding her to a destination. However, Malon is excited about having the company of her old friend, and Epona doesn't seem to mind playing the part of a packhorse for us. I was also grateful that we'd brought her when we arrived in the valley. The bridge there is out, and since the construction team that's supposed to fix it has mysteriously disappeared, there was no way to cross. But Malon pulled me up onto Epona, which was actually the first time I'd been on a horse, and we were suddenly flying over the dangerous gap. Once we'd landed, I sort of freaked out at Malon, but she ignored me. To be honest, I guess I was just freaked because we would have died if Epona hadn't been able to make the jump. It might seem like a good reason to freak out, but I'm always in positions where I could easily be killed, so I'm pretty used to it.

Despite warnings from the few people living on the outskirts of the desert, we still went up to the Gerudo Fortress. There's only one way to get into the Wasteland, and it involves having the permission of the Gerudo. If there were some way to sneak in, we'd do it, but there just isn't. So we had one option, and we just crossed our fingers and hoped it would work. But no, going up, surrendering ourselves, and asking nicely did _not_work. I've been separated from Malon, Epona, and Navi, and now I'm in a tiny jail cell with no weapons.

But hey, I have my lock pick. They took everything else from me. My pack, my sword, my shield, and my dagger were all confiscated, but I keep my lock pick in my boot where it's hard to find. I wore a small hole into the leather of the interior, and I keep the pick in that small hole, between the layers. Even if you can feel where it is, it's hard to get out.

It's pretty quiet right now; I haven't seen the sentry in a while, about an hour. No time better than the present, I suppose. I manage to pull the pick out of my shoe, and I quietly begin to jimmy it in the lock. My heart skips a beat as I hear a small, dull clank, and I'm cautiously excited as I slip the pick back into its hiding place.

Slowly, I push the door open. I don't exactly have a plan. I have no idea where I am, or where my companions are. And, to make everything worse, I don't know how I'm supposed to get to the Wasteland, properly equipped, without the permission of a group of people who simply want to put me in prison.

As I cross the room towards the door, I stop. I just heard something. Ah, there it is again, just to my right, and slightly behind me. I guess the sentry never actually left.

I turn just in time to roll out of the way of a foot coming in at my chest. Sure enough, the guard is still here, and she's wielding not one, but two scimitars at me. And I'm unarmed, which just makes my life _that _much easier. Now, I find myself watching her carefully to dodge her very well-timed kicks, but I'm also trying to look around for a way to defend myself. I can tell that she's not trying to kill or maim me, since she's trying to kick me. The scimitars seem to be a way to keep me from attacking back, since I have nothing to block them with. She seems impressed that I'm still evading her. I need to be able to defend, though, and maybe even attack.

But I'm thrilled to see that there's a decorative coat of arms on the wall, not too far up. It has two swords stuck in it, and since they're not even, it seems as if I'd be able to pull one out. I'd be able to reach it; there's a crate right underneath. The only issue is that the effort it takes to jump up, grab the coat of arms, pull out a sword (which might be a little stuck), and then just down _might _leave me open to an attack that might incapacitate me, which would land me back in the cell. Is it worth it?

As I contemplate this dilemma, the guard backs up and rushes at me, and I realize I'm cornered. I do the only thing I can think of: I run at her and slide. She doesn't get her scimitars down in time, or maybe she doesn't want to slice my feet off. Either way, she ends up on the floor, and her scimitars have gone flying into opposite corners of the room. As she and I quickly leap up, it's clear that she can't get both weapons back before I grab one of them. And so as she darts to one side to pick up one blade, I dive to grab the other. And now we're much more even.

It's a little difficult to wield the scimitar at first; I'm used to the Master Sword by now, and my experience comes from other straight blades like it. But I guess being the Hero of Time comes with the uncanny ability to wield weapons with ease after a few moments, and soon I'm defending myself with ease, and even attacking once in a while.

Soon, though, we're just evenly matched, which means that this fight could go on for a while. I have to find an edge again. I already have an advantage because I've managed to take one of her weapons, and I've managed to completely surprise her. I mean, even if she figured I'd try to break out, she probably didn't think that I would go from just trying to evade her to being an even match.

Well, there is one advantage I have, and it's not because she's incompetent. It's clear that both of us work hard and maintain our strength. But I'm taller, and it's clear that I have more muscle mass. I feel a little guilty as I keep pushing her back as far as I can towards the wall, and _finally_I get my chance as she turns her head slightly to see where the wall is.

As she's turning back to face me, in that split second, the hilts of our scimitars are close to our faces. I push with all of my might, and the hilt of hers slams into her face; I hear a crack that means I've broken her nose. Her head smacks into the wall, and she falls down.

I stand over her dazed body. This is so weird. I've … I've never attacked a person before. I lean down to see if she's still breathing. She is, which is good. It's stupid of me to check; she could easily attack me. But this is the first time, again, that I've fought against an actual human person, and look what I've done …

I prop her up a little, so that she doesn't choke on her own blood. I feel so guilty, but what am I supposed to do? I have to get out of here. I have a job to do. I just never thought I would have to attack and hurt someone, a real someone. Monsters, fiends, baddies … whatever you want to call them, they aren't people. They don't have souls, dreams, desires, family. How do I know this? I don't know, I guess. But they aren't animals. I'd feel guilty killing an animal. But monsters are monsters. All they do is try to hurt people. I've encountered very few who have just been going about their lives, minding their own business. I've only been attacked by fiends. I've never just walked alongside them.

But look what I've done. And it suddenly occurs to me that I'll have to kill Ganondorf as well. I know he's evil as all hell, but even so, he's a person, made of flesh and blood, and even if it's tainted, he has some sort of soul. Will I be a murderer? But I hate him, for his arrogance, for his destruction, for everything. I mean, if he weren't here, if life were without him, I wouldn't have to spend my life running around, sleeping in inns, in dungeons, and outside on the cold hard ground. I wouldn't have to risk my life every single day. I could live my own life, in a home, and I could have a real job with normal routines. I wouldn't have such thankless job that leaves me with no family and few friends.

And people like Malon wouldn't have to have their own lives stolen away from them so roughly. The whole world would be a better place.

I have to kill him.

I carefully and quietly remove the keys that are on her hip, and I skulk out of the room. I have no idea where I am, and I don't have parchment and a pencil to chart the rooms, which is how I manage to get around the Temples. I quietly move down the hallway, keeping my ears and eyes alert as best I can. I have to concentrate on the task I'm in the middle of.

The dimly lit corridor opens up into a slightly smaller room. A cell is built into one side of it, and the corridor continues to the left. And to my annoyance, but not my surprise, there are the four carpenters stuck in there, the ones who were supposed to rebuild the bridge. I recognize them from my childhood, when I would climb around the half-built house in Kakariko. But from the expression on their faces, as they look into the space behind me, I know we're not alone.

I flip around, and the Gerudo guard, who's been here all along, brings one of her scimitars down on mine. I feel the rush of adrenaline I experience when I'm fighting any battle, but now, I'm also feeling a sense of dread. I don't want to hurt another person.

But I have to, and I do. This fight is shorter than the last, mostly because I'm relatively well armed the entire time. She's trying to put me on the defensive, and I do my best to fool her for a bit. It'll be nice if she underestimates me, although she'd be pretty stupid to. I mean, what would you think if you found that one of your disarmed prisoners had escaped his cell and was now wielding a weapon he could have only gotten from one of your own?

And yeah, she doesn't seem to buy it. So I just go back on the offensive, to her surprise. And soon, after completing an impressive spin attack, she lands too hard on one foot. I take the chance and manage to slide and kick that foot out from underneath her. As she tries to get up from the ground, I do the only thing I can think of: I smack her across the head with the flat of the scimitar, and she goes down.

As I try to quell my guilty conscience, magnified by the fact that these men actually _watched _me as I hurt someone, I find the keys on her hip and after I try a few, I manage to open the cell. "Follow me," I whisper, "and for the love of all that is good in this world, be as quiet as possible and do exactly as I tell you."

The men are surprisingly silent as they follow me down the hallway. Soon, we reach a slightly opened door, and I peer in. The room is vacant, but on a small table sits my pack! I scurry in and snatch it triumphantly. Nothing seems to be missing, which is a relief. I shoulder it as I exit. The carpenters continue to follow me as we skulk down the corridor.

At the end of the corridor, I find that we're one of two hallways that are a part of a fork, and there's a doorway facing both hallways. I push the door slowly, and as it creaks open, I find myself rewarded with a cool breeze; it's the exit.

I glance around quickly, and there are enough short walls and crates around that I can pretty easily formulate an escape plan. Not for myself, of course.

"Okay," I hiss. "Follow me, but only start and stop when I tell you to."

I quickly dart behind a nearby wall. When I glance around the stone, I find that there aren't as many Gerudo sentries as I'd feared. Most of them aren't that close to where we are, and so we have to worry more about being seen than heard. But they're organized enough that we can only sneak so far towards the road to the valley before they'll see us. Okay, so we need a distraction. So, what have I got in this bag?

Nothing that exciting. I've got an extra bombchu, but unfortunately, they're hard to aim, and they tend to detonate too early. I'd be running the risk of hurting someone, and it might give away our position too easily, since it leaves a trail that takes a few second to disappear.

But while an explosion might be a bad idea, fire isn't. I spot some banners all the way across the fortress, hanging from some windows. That'll work. I scoot farther down the wall after checking to make sure it's safe. I glance at the guards, and when I'm sure none are looking this way, I motion for the carpenters.

To my surprise and relief, they move quickly and very quietly. And so we begin to slowly move across the way, ducking behind crates and walls as we go. When we finally are as far over as we can get without being seen, it's time for me to put the end of my plan into action. I just hope it actually works. It's so far from foolproof that I'm trying to think of what to do when the guards are rushing towards us.

I pull out my bow and a lone arrow and take careful aim. It's hard for me to see the banners while I'm trying to hide, and I know that I'll have to lower my bow quickly to avoid detection. Here goes nothing, I suppose. As I pull the arrow back and aim, I quickly mutter the spell for fire under my breath and let it fly.

As soon as the Gerudo begin to shout, I motion for the carpenters to run, which they do. I carefully look around the edge of the wall, and to my relief, no one is looking this way. Soon, the carpenters are out of sight, and the fire is out. The guards begin to look for the source, and I rush back to the fortress as quickly as possible.

I manage to sneak back inside to where I was before, this time taking the other corridor in the fork. After a short while, I arrive at a door. To my great unhappiness, when I open it, I find myself faced with an intersection of brightly lit hallways. It's harder to hide with such bright lights.

I pick a hallway very much at random, and I'm glad of my choice. There's a large pile of crates to one side; clearly there's a shipment of something that's waiting to be inspected or counted. And I'm lucky that it's still here; there's someone walking down the corridor, and I dive behind the wooden boxes before she can see me. I watch the Gerudo through a gap between some crates as she knocks on a door right on the other side of my hiding place. It opens.

"Yes?" asks a voice.

"Mistress, the young man we captured today is missing from his cell," the Gerudo answers quietly and nervously. She must be talking to the Gerudo leader. "His guard was in critical condition when we found her, and we've moved her to the hospital wing."

Silence. "Any other news?"

"Yes," the guard answers nervously. "The carpenters are missing, and their guard was found unconscious, but otherwise unharmed. There was a sudden fire set to one of the banners in an upstairs window, which has been put out. And the young man's pack is missing from the storage room where it was to be catalogued."

More silence. "Very well. Those carpenters weren't much of a catch anyway. Take me to the location of this sudden fire."

"Yes, Mistress."

I watch quietly while the two Gerudo walk down the hall away from me. Clearly, I could be doing a better job of keeping a low profile, but they haven't caught me yet. And to my great satisfaction, when I slink out of my hiding spot, the leader has left her door unlocked. I must be a serious security risk for her to forget to lock her door.

This isn't just her office; it's clear that this rather expansive room is her living space as well. I see the lit lamp on the desk she's working at, with the remains of lunch on a silver tray. I can also see couches and other furniture, as well as a pile of weapons in one corner. There's another door which is open, and I can see a bedroom beyond it.

My sword and shield are propped up against her desk, and I quickly run to them and grab them. As I strap them on, I notice a sheet of paper with "Remember this!" written at the top. I examine it carefully; the words on the page are similar to the spell I use for lighting my arrows on fire. While the words for both are in a language I don't understand, I can see where one word is different. I quickly memorize it, although I have no idea what this spell is supposed to do. I can only assume it works for arrows, though.

I consider going through the pile of weapons to see if there's anything useful in there, but I feel as if I've already been … I don't know, sneaky enough. At this point, I haven't stolen anything. Hell, I've already dropped the scimitar now that I have the Master Sword back. I guess I still have the keys I took from the guards, but I'll give them back. I just don't know what other keys there are on these rings that I might need. Maybe there's a key to Malon's cell. I still have to find her, as well as Navi and Epona. I wish I had something more to go on than I do, which is sort of nothing. But before I leave the room to try to find my friends, I notice another lamp. For some reason, it's been placed under the desk, which is why I didn't see it right away. How stupid could a person be to put a lamp under a desk? She's going to burn the place down!

I reach down and let a laugh escape my throat in surprise. It's Navi! In a bottle! It's the one thing I'd always wanted to do, but I never could bring myself to actually go for it. I kind of want to leave her there, just for a little while, but I know she's probably mad at me for not finding her right away.

I uncork her, but I immediately put a finger to my lips. She nods. "What do you know?" I mouth.

"Nothing," she mouths back. Damn.

She zips under my hat and I carefully head out of the room and back into the hallway.

Of course, the head Gerudo is now walking back down the hallway, and, well, she sees me. She stops in surprise before drawing two scimitars. She's alone, but I'd rather not fight. I grab my bow from my pack before she starts running after me. The hall is long, but not that long. As I run in the opposite direction, I pull an arrow from my quiver. As I notch it, I go over the new incantation in my head. I hope that she'll dodge out of the way of the arrow, but I still want to see what it does.

I stop at the end of the hallway and whisper the new verse as I let my arrow loose. As I expect, she dodges out of the way, but the arrow hits the pile of crates. To my great shock, the crates are suddenly encased in an enormous chunk of ice. It doesn't just cover the wood in a thin layer; it extends in crystal-like patterns for at least a foot or two in each direction. And it has encased one of the feet of the Gerudo. She looks shocked and angry as she begins to struggle and try to free herself.

"Sorry," I tell her. There's no need to run right now, since it's clear that she's not able to free herself.

"How the hell are you even doing this?" she asks me, and I'm surprised to find that her voice is filled with more curiosity than anger.

"Doing what?" I ask, genuinely confused.

"We disarm you and lock you in a cell with a guard. You manage to escape the cell, disarm and nearly kill the guard, disarm and incapacitate a second guard, free our other prisoners, locate and recover your belongings, and steal an archery spell that only I knew about." She sounds impressed. "This hasn't happened to us before, you see."

"Is she okay?" I ask. "The woman who was guarding my cell, I mean. I didn't mean to hurt her that badly. I was just trying to end the fight and get out of there."

"She's going to be all right," she replies. "She's just going to need a few days off from guard duty to recover. Why do you care?"

Is she really asking me this? "Why wouldn't I care? She's a person. My goal here isn't to harm anyone."

Her eyes glint with amusement, I think. "And just what is your goal, stranger?"

"I know there's a Temple out in the Wasteland, and I need to go there. And I also need to free my companions, my friend and the horse."

"Not the fairy?" she laughs.

Navi pokes her head out from underneath my hat. "Nope, he's ahead of you there."

"I see," she chuckles. She seems to find her own humiliating situation to be somewhat amusing. "No one is allowed to go into the Wasteland," she says firmly. "Ever since Nabooru, our leader, disappeared seven years ago while examining some problems out there, I have forbidden anyone else to go there. Why should I give you permission?"

"Because I have to go," I explain to her. "I have to awaken the final Sage, and I know for a fact that to do that, I need to get to the Temple and fix whatever issue is going on there. There's an evil force out there, I understand. But that's why I have to go." I clench my fists in exasperation. "Look, it's not like I have a choice in this matter. So if you're not going to let me, then I'm going to have to threaten you, and as you might be able to tell, I really don't want to have to do that."

"The Sage?" she says with sudden interest. "You're … you're working for the rebellion, aren't you?" she asks darkly. And of course, it's only now that I remember that Ganondorf is of the Gerudo tribe. These are his people. Oh, crap!

"I haven't heard of any rebellion," I say truthfully. "I just want to be able to live my life, to have a home to live in. I don't have anything unless I can awaken the Sages. And yes, the only way for me to be able to live my life happily, the way I want to, is to defeat Ganondorf. I have no ill will towards the Gerudo at all. To be honest, I don't even associate Ganondorf with you or your tribe."

She smiles wryly. "Well, I'm glad that you can be honest with me. But you have nothing to fear from me. There is a reason that Ganondorf's forces are all monsters and fiends: we've disowned him. Fortunately for us, he can't find it in his black heart to have us slaughtered for treason. I suppose he considers it punishment enough that we live in this unpleasant climate."

"Really?" I ask. "You mean, you're not on his side?"

She laughs. "No, and I'm glad to find that you aren't either. Now, will you please help me out of here?"

I pause. "You're just going to try to imprison me again," I say. "As I told you, I don't have time for this. I have to get to the Temple and fix whatever's wrong."

She rolls her eyes. "Yes, I get it. You made your point, stranger. And if you would be so kind as to help me, I will arrange more comfortable accommodations for you, as well as the preparations for your journey to the Colossus."

"Colossus?" I ask as I stride over towards her.

"Yes," she answers as I start to look through my bag for something to melt the ice, or at least something to get her foot out. "The Colossus is an older Goddess, from a time before the Hyrulean Goddesses. There's an enormous statue of her which serves as the Temple of Spirits out in the Wasteland. I've only been there once myself, and it's quite breath-taking."

Finally, I just take out an arrow and whisper to it, and I'm left with a rather large match. I hold it carefully above her foot, to avoid burning her, and soon the ice is melting.

"How hard it is to cross the Wasteland?" I ask as I start to carve out the ice around her foot.

"It's not horribly difficult," she says, "but it's not really that easy either. You've got to be able to walk in the sands, which are constantly shifting under your feet, and the constant sandstorm is no walk in the park either. There are flags to mark the way, but they're hard to spot sometimes. There is a small shelter halfway through, and it's usually a good idea to take a little break before going the rest of the way. It can be quite difficult to breathe. Ah, thank you." Her foot is finally free of the ice, but it's very cold and wet, and rather white.

I pull her to her feet. "Can you tell me where my friend is? And our horse?"

"They are both being taken care of," she assures me. "I'm just going to dry my foot and change into another pair of sandals first, though, if that's all right with you.

"Sure," I reply. As she does this, I find my knife in my pack and put it back into my boot.

Soon, she leads me to a sizable dining hall, where a table is being set. "Supper should be ready in an hour or so," she says, tapping her lips thoughtfully. "I suppose I'll make sure your quarters are ready. I assume you will be staying with your friend?" She smiles at me suggestively.

"Uh, yeah," I say uncomfortably, and she turns to another Gerudo, giving her specific instructions. She then gestures for me to hand this new Gerudo my pack and weapons, which I part with uneasily.

"Girlfriend," Navi giggles as she floats next to me. When I glare at her, she just rolls her eyes at me. "Oh, come on, I promise I'll stop teasing you about it at some point."

"Ah," the Gerudo leader says, sighing, turning back to us. "Well, that's disappointing," she admits. "You see, and I'll try to be as polite as possible here, when we capture men, we typically enjoy their company for a while, before releasing them." I don't need much more clarification. "Of course, we were holding the carpenters to sort of teach them a lesson, but none of the girls were interested in them. You, of course, are a little more pleasing to the eyes. We even had a lottery going for who would get you first."

"That's flattering," I say, "but as you've already figured out, I'd rather stick with just one person."

"We would never hurt one of our own," she says. "It is unusual for one of our girls to have a steady partner, but since I'm granting you membership, it's not as if she would be in a relationship with a prisoner."

"Thanks," I say honestly. "Anyway, I doubt I'd be that much fun for you all anyway." I blush. "I'm sort of new to all that stuff."

She grins. "There's much we can teach you, you know. And it would not require that you be unfaithful, don't worry."  
Navi picks up on it as we reach a door at the end of yet another corridor. "Wait, one of your own?" she asks.

"Well, of course," she replies. She pushes open the door and gestures for me to enter. To my surprise, there's a beautiful Gerudo sitting inside, having her ears pierced. Her hair, though, isn't the right shade of red.

"Malon!" I finally realize, and she grins at me, although she doesn't stand up.

"Hey!" she cries as she sees Navi and me. "What happened to you guys?"

"Navi was bottled, and I was imprisoned, but I escaped," I say. "It was pretty awesome. What happened to you?" I notice a large bandage on her upper arm.

"They're making me a Gerudo," she says, which is pretty obvious. "Part of initiation is getting your ears pierced and getting a tattoo."

"Oh," I say. That's what the bandage is.

The Gerudo leader behind me speaks to some of the other Gerudo in the room. "I don't want to make him look girly, so please use the smallest hoops you have." She then turns to me. "We'll have someone bring you all to dinner soon." With that, she leaves.

"Wait, hoops?" I ask. I have delayed reactions when I'm not in dangerous situations.

As Malon finishes having her ears pierced, which doesn't look too painful, my arm is tattooed with an intricate but really cool pattern. As she finishes it, the Gerudo who is applying the tattoo explains that this tattoo is what proves membership with the tribe, and that it is against the Gerudo code to harm someone with such a tattoo. When I ask if Ganondorf has one, and she answers affirmatively, my heart sinks. That is, until she adds, "But he doesn't count. We've disowned him from the tribe. It wasn't exactly a pleasant parting," she says with a sigh. "He was so angry with us that he actually tore off his sleeve, grabbed a dagger, and sliced off the skin where his tattoo was." Malon and I both grimace, and Navi makes a small "ew" noise.

Once the tattoo is finished, she covers it with bandages and then moves to a small box of what looks like …

"Jewelry?" I ask. "But I'm a guy."

She laughs. "In the Gerudo Tribe, you are either a member, or you are not. And while we don't have many male members, those we do have must still follow the rules of membership. Having hoop earrings isn't a girl thing. It's a Gerudo thing. Unless you want us to drive you out?" she asks, eyebrows raised.

"No," I groan. "Just get it over with."

She uses hoops that are much smaller than Malon's, or her own. They're so small that I can tell that once they're in, they won't extend past the bottom of my earlobe. And by the way Malon reacted, it doesn't seem as if this is going to hurt much.

Ten minutes and a lot of screaming and cursing later, I have pierced ears, and Malon is trying to be supportive. Navi's just giggling, which is really pleasant. The Gerudo are leading us to the dining hall. They won't let me put my shirt back on, saying that it'll ruin the tattoo, but I know it's because they like seeing me shirtless. We walk down the hall back to the large dining hall.

Dinner is an incredible affair. Malon, Navi, and I are greeted with praise, admiration, and enthusiasm, which I find surprising given my prisoner status earlier today. The food is superb, although maybe too spicy for my taste, and I eat until I think my stomach might burst. Soon, Malon and I are led to our quarters, but only after we peel off our bandages and show off our new tattoos.

We have a suite, which is nice, and all of our packs and gear have been neatly placed on and next to a side table. Navi grabs my hat and sets up a bed in the main living area, which means that Malon and I have privacy again. This first night, we don't do much besides kissing and cuddling. She makes me tell her all that happened to me, and I ask the same of her. Soon, we fall asleep, happy to be in a comfortable bed, with nothing threatening us.

For the next week, the Gerudo leader, whose name I learn is Faaru, insists that I learn Gerudo fighting and survival techniques. And, true to her word, she gives me all these incredible tips and ideas to try with Malon, therefore helping me without causing me to hurt Malon. Malon, meanwhile, is being trained in the Gerudo arts as well, but I think the Gerudo expect her to stay. They refuse to let her wear any of her old clothes, and they talk to her as if she's staying with them forever. I think she's afraid of angering them if she tells them otherwise. But I also think she's enjoying the training. I know she doesn't want to feel useless, and this is definitely changing that.

And at night, Malon and I make all sorts of new discoveries. I'm not the only one receiving advice; when Malon confided in a Gerudo friend that we knew absolutely _nothing_about any of this more intimate stuff, she got such an outpouring of information that she had to actually write some of it down. And so we communicate to each other what we've learned, what we want to try, what feels good, and what doesn't. We're both still too nervous to actually go ahead and have sex, and our friends have acknowledged, based on what they know about the past seven years of our lives, that maybe it's a little too soon.

Finally, it's the last night before I head to the Colossus. To Malon's great displeasure, Faaru refused to let her accompany me. She pointed out to Malon that the only reason I'm allowed to cross is because I'm going to immediately enter the Temple and cure it of its evil possession. Since Malon wouldn't be accompanying me inside the Temple, it's a foolhardy risk to send her into the Wasteland with me.

Right now, we're lying in bed, but we're not talking and we're still pretty much clothed. Malon is mad at me because I agree with Faaru. Finally after a good ten minutes, she finally breaks the angry silence.

"How can you expect me to stay here?" she asks. "My place is with you, you asshole. And the more I stay here, the more they think I'm going to keep staying."

I groan. "Malon, they know we're not staying."

"They know _you're _not staying," she corrects me. "Faaru would let me go if she knew I wasn't either. But, no, she sees you as an honorary member, so you can leave. I'm supposed to be a real member, one who has all these obligations to the tribe." She pauses before becoming frantic. "What if they don't let me leave? Oh, no, they're going to lock me up."

"Relax," I tell her forcefully. "Look, it's not like I'm leaving tomorrow and never coming back. When I finish up with that Temple, I'm coming back through here anyway, and I'll make sure you leave with me, okay?" I sigh. "Look, I know that you want to come with me. And I know that you want to come into the Temple this time."  
She sits up and looks down at me. The candles behind her create a haze around her head. "Well, of course! Link, you never let me come in with you, but now I'm actually trained. Why can't I?"

"You've been training for a week!" I exclaim. "And that's not how these Temples work. There are some things that only one person can do, or get across. If you're with me, one of us is going to get trapped." I sigh. "Malon, I can't mess up in the Temple. I just can't. And I know that if I think you're in danger, even if it just looks that way and you're fine, I'm going to do something stupid to try to save you."

She sighs heavily as she lies back down. "Why can't I go with you through the Wasteland at least?" she asks. "The Gerudo have gone through in groups as large as five."

"I know," I tell her. "But they've gone because they've had to go to the Colossus, not because they wanted to."

She stops talking for a few minutes, and I decide to break the silence. "Malon, please stay here. Take care of Epona. The more you learn, the better." I pause. "Hopefully, once the Sages are all awakened, we can go back to the ranch." I wait for her reaction.

"We?" she asks, and I start to fumble for words as I blush. I'd hoped for a less mocking reaction, to be honest. But she laughs. "Link, relax." She caresses my arm. "Actually, I had hoped you would come back with me. And I'd hoped that unlike all the other times you came to the ranch, you'd stay this time."

I smile at her before pulling her towards me to kiss her. Finally, after this whole ordeal is over, I can finally go to the ranch for good. It can finally be my real home, instead of my imagined one. I can finally just live somewhere.

Our kissing grows more heated, and we find ourselves in the middle of one of the scenarios Malon's friend told her about. Needless to say, it's pretty sweet. But then Malon looks at me with a strange expression.

"What?" I ask.

"You might be gone for a while," she says slowly.

"I know," I answer. "What are you thinking?"

She looks at me as if she's afraid of my reaction. "Maybe we could … you know …"

"No, I don't know. What are you talking about?"

"Sex, you idiot!" she hisses, but she's still smiling at me nervously. "I think we should have sex."

"Really?" I ask. "I mean, I want to," I add. We've done so much experimenting that it would just be taking two things we've already done and doing them at the same time.

"I do, too," she whispers with an impish grin on her face. I grin back at her and the kissing resumes. Soon, we're making love for the first time in our lives, and it feels incredible. It's not just that it's physically pleasurable; with all of the things we've tried, I've felt this before. Instead, I just feel this incredible closeness to her, one that involves trust. And when we're finished, and we're lying next to each other in the sweaty afterglow, I wonder if she feels the same way.

* * *

Oh no, the DEED. Zomg. If you take offense at this, and you have the ability to discuss things without resorting to name-calling, feel free to email me.

This ain't the last chapter, but the story is officially finished! The site has been a pain about letting me upload, so this chapter is a belated Chanukah present. So happy Chanukah, and happy finals if you're in the same hellish boat as I am.


	17. Six vibrant colors

After making another comment on how handsome I am, Nabooru finally fades from sight, and Navi and I find ourselves in the foyer of the Temple. Compared to the past few Temples I've found myself in, this one has actually been quite straightforward. I can't say it was enjoyable; it never is.

I especially wasn't too happy about having to go back in time again. Sheik made it easier for me teaching me a spell to get to the Temple of Time and back to the Colossus, so that I wouldn't have to deal with getting across the Wasteland so many times, especially as a kid.

I didn't like being a kid again. It wasn't awful, but it wasn't nearly as much of a relief as it was when I went back in time to go down the well. Whereas I'd felt too small for my skin when I first woke up to find myself at age seventeen, this time I felt too big, even though that's who I am, right? Right? Goddesses, how old _am_I? But, I mean, I guess it's okay. I'm seventeen now, older even. I've lost track of time, so maybe I'm eighteen already. I don't have to worry anymore about feeling more my age. It's okay if I'm finally feeling seventeen.

Sheik is waiting for me when I finally manage to exit the Temple. I can tell that it's late afternoon, which means I need to hurry if I want to get back to the fortress before nightfall. "Everything okay?" I ask him. "There's nothing else I have to do here, right?"

"Did you dispatch of the witches?" he asks quietly.

"Yeah," I say with a grimace.

"It was quite an experience," Navi says, and I nod. Watching those two witches merge together wasn't the most pleasant experience we've had.

"And you've awakened the Sage?"

"Yes," I say, exasperated. "Nabooru is awakened and ready to go. Why are you here? Is there something wrong?" The only time I've met him after awakening a Sage was when he told me to go to Kakariko, and he seems much quieter and more serious this time.

"The girl isn't with you anymore," he says simply, but I can sense a little triumph in his voice.

I roll my eyes. "She's with the Gerudo." I take a few steps closer to him. "Look, are you here just to see whether or not I've ditched Malon?"

Now he's angry. "Hey, you have a job to do, and I want to make sure you're doing it!" he retorts.

"I did it!" I shout, pointing at the Temple. "Go see for yourself if you don't believe me!"

"Look, the twins are dead," Navi says, much more calmly than I'm behaving. "Nabooru has been awakened. That's what Link has been charged to do, and lo and behold, he's done it." Before he can protest, she continues. "And he awakened Impa. And he awakened the other three Sages that he was asked to. Now can you please stop freaking out over the fact that Malon is our friend and she's with us for good?" She huffs.

"Well, I'm sure you could have gone faster if she had stayed behind," Sheik snaps.

"Oh, shut up," I snap back. "She's helped me out plenty, and so without her, I'd probably either be dead or still working on clearing out the Water Temple." Maybe the Water Temple bit is an exaggeration, but Malon has helped me, and she saved me after the Fire Temple.

"Are we seriously having this fight again?" Navi shouts. "Sheik, either tell us if there's anything left for us to finish, or let us go so we can make it out of the Wasteland before it gets dark. But please, for the love of the Goddesses, stop freaking out about Malon!"

He glares at us silently, although I think he's more glaring at me. "Go to the Temple of Time," he spits, and he looks as if he's trying to calm himself down. "And I strongly recommend that you ditch the farm girl before you show up." A small sandstorm kicks up, and Sheik steps back into it. Seconds later, when it dies down, he's gone.

"I'm starting to hate him," I say.

"I know," Navi says, and we start to head towards the Wasteland that swirls ahead. "I just don't get why he's this upset over Malon."  
"Maybe he knows that she and I aren't just friends anymore," I suggest. "Although I have no idea how he would know."

"Maybe," she says. "You know, I'm really starting to think that we were right before, that he likes Malon. But it's just too weird," she says. "I mean, he's met her once, right?"

"I know," I say. "I really just don't get it."

Navi ducks under my hat, and I pull out the heavy cloak and the pseudo-snowshoes that the Gerudo gave me for the Wasteland. Soon, I'm suited up, and I pull out the light gauze that I needed to wear over my face. Without it, I'd have to keep my eyes closed, and I wouldn't be able to follow the flags back to the fortress. Navi holds on tight, and I walk into the swirling sands.

It's just as unpleasant as it was the first time. The sand tries to fill every gap it can find, and even though the gauze helps, I still have to keep my eyes closed most of the time. The sand-shoes help to keep me from sinking too far into the dunes, but if I don't keep moving as quickly as possible, it takes me a very long time to free myself.

By the time I reach the shelter and halfway point, I'm lightheaded and gasping for breath. We rest for a little while without speaking, but after a few minutes, I start to shake out my cloak and strap it back on. I don't want to have to spend the night here, especially since we're essentially out of food.

I can feel Navi curled up in my hair as I push back into the wind. I find it interesting that no matter what direction I'm facing, the wind is blowing against me. I have a feeling that the wind isn't natural; it must exist only to prevent me from reaching my destination safely.

Soon, it becomes even more difficult to see, and to my horror, I realize that the sun is setting. I continue to follow the flags, but they're becoming more and more difficult to pick out, leaving me searching for them for so long that my feet are sinking dangerously low into the sand. I can't just walk in a straight line; there are areas in the sand that are so dangerous, taking a step into them would leave me neck-deep in sand within seconds. I can't shout to Navi that we're in trouble. In fact, there's nothing I _can_do. I just have to keep trying as best I can to find the next flag and get over to it. The winds seem to get worse and worse as it gets darker and darker, and I keep walking even though I'm not totally sure if what I see ahead of me is a flag or just my hope driving me insane.

It's a flag, and not just any flag. It has two red stripes around the poles, which means one thing and one thing only: it's the end.

And I practically fall out of the sandstorm, since there's nothing more to push against. As I shake the sand free from my body before I start to remove the protective layers I'm wearing, I realize how quickly my heart is beating. It was just too close, too frightening. If I had been out there for a few more minutes, I might have died.

I finally remove the gauze and look up to see the last rays of sunlight fading from the sky, and the stars are starting to twinkle slightly in the dying light. Navi flits out from my hat. "Close," she whispers. She had no idea until now that it was this late.

We walk the rest of the way back to the fortress. Well, I walk; she flies. On the way to the Wasteland, two weeks ago, Malon had insisted on accompanying me to the edge of the sandstorm. She rode Epona, and I rode a mare lent to me by the Gerudo, which Malon was to lead back after I'd left. Now that we're on foot, it's going to take me a while to get back.

By the time I get back to the fortress, it's clear that I've missed the last meal. The sentries outside welcome me back excitedly, but quietly. They can tell that I'm really pretty tired, and they're surprised to see me back so late. I excuse myself and head into the fortress through a side entrance, the same one through which I helped the carpenters escape. After a few knocks, Faaru opens her door. "You're back late!" she exclaims quietly. She beckons us in and forces us to sit down while she sends for a small dinner. "Tell me everything," she says, sitting back at her desk.

And so I explain to her the problems we found at the Colossus. She doesn't ask for an explanation of _how_I know how Nabooru disappeared, since I've neglected to inform her that I witnessed it with my own, ten-year-old eyes. Navi tells her about Twinrova, whom Faaru knows about. I have to tell her about the new gauntlets and shield I've acquired, since she can see them with own eyes, but she doesn't seem upset that I've essentially stolen them from a holy place. To be fair, though, I kind of stole a lot of my gear from Temples. This is the first time, though, that I've considered my findings to be treasure.

It's pretty late by the time we're finished talking, and Navi and I have finished gulping down the meal we're provided. "We need to leave very soon," I explain to Faaru. I need to get to Hyrule Castle Town as soon as possible."  
She nods. "We'll have Epona prepared for your departure tomorrow." She sighs. "But are you sure you don't want more time with Malon before you leave? She's missed you a lot this past week. She'll also want to show you all of the new things she's learned in training."

I sigh. "Faaru, when I say that we need to leave, I don't mean just Navi and me."

She doesn't look surprised. In fact, she looks as if she was ready for me to tell her something like this. "Malon is a Gerudo now, and so are you," she informs me. "We understand that you need to do as the Sages ask, but there are certain guidelines to being a member of the Gerudo tribe, and you need to follow them. Malon does as well."

I frown. I'm used to being charged with important responsibilities, whether I've been given those responsibilities by the Great Deku Tree, Princess Zelda, or the Sages. But it's all been temporary, and when I'm done, I'm going to the ranch. I'm going _home_, I think, my heart racing slightly.

"Therefore," Faaru continues, "when you are finished with your task, you need to return here immediately. I'm your superior in this tribe, and to be perfectly frank, I'm not in the mood to fight over this with you. I've already spent the entire week dealing with Malon, who keeps insisting she's leaving with you."

There's a roaring in my ears. It's not that I think Faaru could impose such a rule on me. I just can't even believe someone would try to hem me in like this. I mean, Sheik has sort of tried, but he's pretty easy to defy; he's got nothing on me. But with a start, I realize that the tattoo on my shoulder can be held against me as easily as it's enabled me to reach certain destinations.

I come back to earth to hear Navi launching a tirade at Faaru, although I've missed most of it. What I managed to catch is the very, very end. "And if you think you can do this, then you're just going to have to sit back and see how mistaken you are!"

"Come on, Navi," I say suddenly. She looks at me as if I'm crazy, and even Faaru's eyes are a little narrowed with confusion. "No, I'm serious. I'm exhausted, and I know you are, too." I turn to Faaru. "Look, we'll stay for a few more days, okay? Maybe we can work something out."

She smiles at me. "Sure, we'll talk about this after you've had some more rest."

Navi won't let me hear the end of it as we head to the rest of the residential suites, which are located on the other side of the hall. "Are you serious?" she hisses at me. "I mean, come on, we have to leave, and we can't leave Malon here! And I am sure as hell not coming back here when we're all done with this mess. I'm going back to the forest and doing my own thing, and damnit, I just don't see you staying here like some stooge!"

"Navi, calm down, you're going to disturb everyone who's asleep," I warn her. It's pretty late by now, and I know that while the Gerudo take watch at different hours, a lot of them are asleep.

I slowly open our door, but when Navi grumpily tries to take my hat to make her bed, I grab it and shake my head. Malon's not in the sitting room, so I open the bedroom door; she's lying down under the covers, but I can see her eyes glittering in the dark. "Welcome back, guys," she whispers as she climbs out of bed. She gives Navi her customary hug, which means that she holds up an index finger, which Navi reaches her arms around. Then I get my hug, which is much more conventional. She kisses me softly and quickly, since Navi is here. "You're back so late," she says.

"I know," I tell her. "We left pretty late from the Colossus, and then Faaru made me have dinner in her rooms and tell her what happened."  
"Faaru," Malon says with disgust. "You know, she—"

"I know," I say quickly. "Look, get dressed right now, and get your things together. We're leaving tonight."

"We are?" she and Navi ask at the same time.

"Yeah," I say as I head back into the main room. "Keep as quiet as you can so we don't draw any attention."

"I don't get it," Navi says.

For the first time, I realize, I've come up with a solution that Navi hasn't thought of. If this had been, well, seven years ago, I'd be leaping up and down and bragging, but we have no time to lose. "We're leaving tonight. If I told Faaru that we were all going to leave tomorrow morning, like it or not, she'd just post guards. I told her we'd stay and think about it, but hell, I'm leaving now."  
Soon, we've got our few belongings together. We spent a few minutes debating whether or not Malon should leave in Gerudo clothing or her usual attire, and we decided that it didn't actually matter. Navi hides under my hat; she's bright enough that she's draw attention to us.

We manage to make it down to the stable, which is when we have to split up. Malon is known to hang out in the stables at odd hours of the night, and so the guard isn't surprised that Malon's come down to say hi to Epona. Malon also grabs Epona's tack under the pretense of checking to see if it's chafing her in any places. Meanwhile, Navi and I make our way to the area outside the fortress, where I hid when I set the banner on fire. I told Faaru about the technique, so it can't be a distraction in the same way as it was before. But that doesn't mean it's no longer useful.

The signal comes when I hear crashing in the stable. As I hear screams and shouts, the door bursts open, and Epona flies out, carrying Malon.

Now comes the tough part: Malon has to steer Epona right to where I am, stop her long enough for me to mount, and then get away before we can be apprehended. She told me to reach for her hand with my right hand, and to put my right foot in the stirrup; I just hope I can do it. When she's still a considerable distance from me, I set my arrow, whisper the spell, and send it towards a bale of hay that's been sitting outside the stable, waiting to be brought in. It lights immediately, which means that most of the guards have to put it out, rather than stop us. If they don't, they're going to lose several horses, and I know that they aren't that stupid.

A few are still going after Epona as Malon urges her toward me. As she reaches out her hand, I realize that she's still going pretty fast, and I've only just put my bow away. Shit, I'm not ready!

"Link, hand!" Navi shouts; she's peeking from underneath my hat.

My hand shoots out as I stand up, and as Malon grabs it tightly, I realize that Epona has almost stopped. I have plenty of time to stick my foot into the stirrup, but then I hold on for dear life: Epona is suddenly off in a gallop again. I try to hold on as best I can without letting my heavy pack fall off my shoulder. Epona's saddlebags don't help.

By the time we've hit the valley, Malon slows Epona down enough to finish pulling me up. Before I can ask any questions, I have to grab Malon around the waist; Epona is at top speed again. The lazy carpenters haven't started the bridge yet, and therefore we have to fly over it again. Once we've cleared it, Malon slows Epona to a walk and dismounts to prevent Epona from having to carry such a load.

"Holy shit," Malon exhales, breathing heavily. "Wasn't that exhilarating?"

"Totally," Navi agrees, now floating around my head. "I think that's the best idea Link's ever had!" she adds.

I roll my eyes. "First of all, I've had good ideas," I say. It's not a lie. I have had some good ideas. It just seems as if I never have any because I have so many bad ideas as well. "And second of all, it's pretty late, and we need somewhere to stay the night. We're not close enough to the ranch to stay there."

And so we have to resort to my least favorite sleeping method: outside. Since I've spent a lot of time sleeping in the Temples, I have some gear, although no tent. Malon takes the first watch, since she's the most rested, and I volunteer for the middle shift. I figure that Navi deserves unbroken sleep.

And, well, it means that Malon and I will be awake at the same time, even if only for a short while.

I awake to her shaking me gently, and I slowly sit up from the thin mat I've been sleeping on. "Your turn," she whispers.

I nod and stand up. As she sits herself down to take my place, I sit beside her. "Malon, I have a question for you," I say as she puts her head down on the pack I was using for a pillow.

"Sure, what?" she asks.

I sigh gently. "Do you know Sheik?" I ask. "I mean, did you know him before all this happened? Or have you been seeing him while I'm in the Temples?"

She laughs shortly, and I feel my face go red. "Of course not," she replies. "Why would you think that?"

I shrug. "Every time I've seen him recently, he keeps getting mad at me because I haven't ditched you yet. Navi and I have a sneaking suspicion that he's jealous because he doesn't like me spending so much time with you."

"So," she summarizes, "you're worried that the reason why he dislikes us spending so much time together is because he has a thing for me, and if you made me stay behind, he could spend more time with me."  
"Yes," I say. "Is that stupid?"

She shrugs a little. "Well, if he does like me, it must be pretty superficial. He's met me, what, twice?"  
"Maybe," I say. I grin. "You are incredibly good-looking. I don't blame him."

She sits up and leans over to kiss me gently. "You're not bad-looking yourself," she says. "Good night."

The next morning, she shakes me awake again, and after a very small breakfast, we head toward the Temple of Time. We don't have much left in the way of supplies, but this really shouldn't take long. My plan is to go in, do whatever it is I have to do, and get out.

As we step into the unnatural night that seems to lurk around the city nowadays, it's pretty clear that we need to leave Epona behind. Malon carefully tethers her as I go through all of our packs and the saddlebags to make sure we're taking only what we need and nothing more.

Last time we were here, Malon went crazy, swinging at the zombies that lurk all over the place. This time, we simply skulk past them. My heart beats wildly in my chest as we near the temple. My journey is almost over, and then I can go _home._ I can start my life. I didn't have a life back in the forest, where I lived as an outcast for years. I don't have a life now, where I'm shuttled from place to place, risking my neck at all times. But no, after this, Malon and I will return to the ranch together. I am sad that Navi intends to return to the forest, but I know she has friends there. And she knows I'll visit her. But the ranch is the place for me; that much I know.

I can spend my days helping to fix the ranch. I can milk cows, garden, feed the chickens, and care for the horses. I can wake up each morning and go to bed each night knowing that I'm where I've chosen to be. I can live with people who care about me.

Malon and I … we can make love every night. We can have a family together. Hell, we can get married if we want to. And I can visit the friends I've made along the way, on this nightmare of an adventure, but it'll be because I want to see them, not because I'm under an obligation to go somewhere and fix something.

We reach the door, and as I push it open, all I can think of is that we're done. It's over. I wonder if Malon feels it, too.

Sheik is waiting for us, slumped against the altar; he looks as if he's pretty bored. He also looks a little surprised to see us, and a little unhappy to see Malon.

"I wasn't expecting you so early," he says quietly as he stands up. "I figured you would be here around nightfall at the earliest, or maybe tomorrow morning."

I shake my head. "The Gerudo weren't going to let Malon leave, and they were insisting that I return to the fortress after all's said and done." I shrug. "So, yeah, we made a pretty daring and awesome escape last night, and we came straight here afterwards."

Sheik nods, but he's staring at Malon as he says, "I thought you would have spent last night at the ranch, or at least that you would have stayed there and rested tonight."

Malon, Navi, and I all understand what Sheik is implying. He's implying that Malon is so attached to her family and her home that she would have insisted we stop by the ranch one last time. And he's also implying that I'm so whipped that I would stay with her.

Malon holds her ground and stays civil. "It was more important that we get here as soon as possible. If we had time to spare, we might still be at the fortress, trying to work things out with the Gerudo."

Sheik nods, and I realize that he seems to finally be accepting that Malon's place with us. Not completely, of course, but a little bit. Maybe all of our spats are over.

"I understand you have both been accepted into the Gerudo tribe?" he asks.

I nod. "Well, Navi apparently isn't qualified." She punches me softly in the shoulder. "But they really didn't give us much of a choice. They automatically made Malon a part of the tribe, and I think they wouldn't have let me go across the Wasteland if I had rejected their implicit invitation." I pause. "Yeah, I think they just tattooed us without asking."

"Fortunately, as you may have heard, Ganondorf has been disowned from the tribe," Sheik notes. "Therefore, your obligations to the Gerudo don't apply to him."  
Malon speaks up. "Yes, but unfortunately, our obligations to the Gerudo apparently require us to go back and live there when we're done. They wouldn't let me leave, actually. Technically, I'm on the run from them." She smiles a little.

"I doubt that it'll be an issue," Sheik says dryly, but I'm a little confused. How will it not be an issue?

"Anyway," he continues, "I need to talk to you about the Triforce."

I roll my eyes. I hate theology lessons, and that Triforce has caused nothing but trouble. "Right, Ganondorf got into the Sacred Realm, touched it, and wished to rule Hyrule with an iron fist. Got it."

Sheik rolls his eyes. "There is a little known prophecy," he informs us, "that appears to have come true."

"It must be pretty little known," Navi points out.

"And?" Malon asks, trying to get Sheik to tell us this little exception to the rules we were taught.

"And," Sheik continues, "the prophecy states that if a person with an evil heart and a malicious intent touches the Triforce, he will not be granted his wish."

"That explains the whole 'evil overlord' deal," I say sarcastically, and Malon glares at me. Navi giggles a little, though. Sheik ignores me.

"Instead, the Triforce divides into three parts: Wisdom, Courage, and Power. The Triforce pieces then become spiritual rather than physical, and one of the Triforce pieces becomes a part of whoever touched the Triforce."  
"And Ganondorf was granted the Triforce of Power," Malon says.

"Yes," Sheik replies. "Basically, if you are trying to use the Triforce to cause any sort of death, destruction, misery, and so on, you are instead granted the Triforce piece that most closely resembles what you consider to be the most important thing in the world."

"Well, that makes sense," Navi muses. "Ganondorf was going to use the Triforce to gain power anyway. It would explain why it seems like he got his wish."

"So, what about the other pieces of the Triforce?" I ask.

"They, too, become spiritual," Sheik explains. "When an evil person touches the Triforce, it goes into a mode to protect itself. The other two pieces then reside in two people who not only will oppose the holder of the third piece, but who also embody those two traits more than any other person."

"That way, those people have the power and ability to take down the person who is causing destruction." Man, Malon is on the ball.

"Yes," Sheik says, surprised. "That's exactly it. The holders of the other two pieces are also granted a certain magic technology to help fight against the third holder, which can only be obtained once all of the Sages are awakened." He steps up to me and hands me a sheet of paper. It's another arrow spell. "This arrow spell will imbue your arrows with a power that can directly react with the Triforce piece inside of Ganondorf. It is one of his only vulnerabilities. The Master Sword is also powerful against him, considering that nothing evil can bear its touch."

I pause as I read over the arrow spell. "Wait, wait, does this mean I'm a Triforce holder?" I ask stupidly.

Malon laughs at me, but speaks to Sheik instead. "Well, I think it's obvious why you're the holder of Wisdom and he's not," she says. Sheik tries not to smile. He seems almost proud of her that she's figured all this out so easily.

I glare at both of them. "I'm just tired, so leave me alone." I glance back at the spell. "Besides, I'm exhausted from thinking up a brilliant escape plan last night."

"Sheik, aren't the Sheikah extinct?" Navi asks suddenly. "Impa said she was the last Sheikah, and I know she's childless." It was true. We had sort of grilled her at one point, since we both felt bad that the last Sheikah was locked up in the Sacred Realm. Asking her about any possible Sheikah still living in Hyrule was the result of our guilt at assisting in ending an entire race and culture. But Navi has a point. There's a Sheikah man before us, even though it's impossible.

"Yes," Sheik says sadly. "As you might have already figured out, it would be pretty stupid for me to walk around without a disguise."

Malon's brow furrows, but I don't get it. I mean, we didn't go around in disguise, but we're fine. We did use aliases, and sometimes I would go hatless and fairy-less, but I don't see why Sheik would need a disguise.

"You're not even a guy," Malon says suddenly. She then laughs. "Oh, no, now I get it!" She sighs with a sad smile. "Now I get why you've never liked me much."

"Malon, what are you talking about?" I ask. How can Sheik not be a guy? If Malon were wearing that skin-tight suit, I'd be ogling her breasts quite often. It's clear that Sheik is as flat as a table. His voice is also rather deep, even if it's soft.

"Wait, that does make sense," Navi says, her voice full of realization. "Wow, how did you manage this?"

"Should I wait for Link to catch on?" Sheik says with a sad laugh.

"No," I answer. "It's going to be a long day if you're going to wait." Hey, I'm honest. Besides, it would be more embarrassing to sit here all day and fail to figure out what on earth they're all talking about.

Sheik throws down one of those obnoxious pellets he uses to escape, and I'm annoyed as the black spots disappear from my vision. I hate those things! But to my shock and surprise, even though Sheik has disappeared, there's still someone here.

"I'm sorry, Malon," Princess Zelda says. "I know I'm supposed to be wise, and so I can't totally write off my behavior as me being misguided or stupid. But, uh, I've spent seven years as a boy, and since I didn't want to get involved with any girls my age, you can probably understand why I was getting a little jealous."

Malon nods. "Don't worry about it, please. What's more important right now is getting rid of Ganondorf so we can all just relax. And I'm sure there are some foreign princes who are going to be absolutely ecstatic that you're not dead."

Zelda laughs. She's still in her Sheik outfit, so I'm staring. Maybe I should get something like this for Malon. That could be interesting.

"Link," Navi says as she smacks the side of my head, ending my ogling. "You're missing out on an important conversation."  
"Sorry," I say, and then I start listening.

"As I was saying," Zelda says, glaring at me, "These arrows are an incredibly powerful and necessary weapon, so Link, it's important that you can recite the spell with speed and accuracy, or as Din is my witness, I will kill you."

"Vicious," I comment. Now that I've stopped ogling her, it occurs to me that I should be more surprised that Sheik was actually Princess Zelda. But, well, I'm not. It had always bothered me that everyone kept talking about her, but I hadn't seen her. It's not fair if you're running errands for someone, but she never even talks to you. I guess she was there, the whole time, making sure that everything was working. I finish memorizing the spell as I realize Zelda is waiting for me to look up. "Is it that important that you'd be so violent?" I ask.  
"It's really that important," Zelda says. "This spell is really the only thing designed to harm Ganondorf. The Master Sword is important when it comes to defeating him, yes, but without this light arrow spell, you're not even going to be able to get close. And if you fail to memorize this spell, I really don't think that he's going to wait patiently while you fumble for the parchment. But if you do use this spell, I can guarantee you that he'll be floored pretty easily."

"That's good to hear," I say. I open my pack and put the spell near the top, just in case I need to look at it again on the way over to the castle, where I can only assume Ganondorf has set up shop. "So, should we go now?"

"No better time than now to get our lives back," Navi points out, and Malon nods.

"Definitely," says Zelda, who is now brandishing an impressive pair of brass knuckles that appear to have small blades attached. But before we're able to even leave the temple, my entire field of vision becomes as black as night. I can hear Zelda and Navi screaming, and Malon is shouting for me.

"Where are you guys?" I shout back as I grope helplessly in the dark. Before I can pull out an arrow and light it on fire, my vision clears again. But I feel violently ill as I realize that while Malon and Navi are blinking and recovering their sight, Zelda is nowhere to be found. In fact, all that's left where she was standing moments ago are her brass knuckles. "Well," I say, "I guess we have an appointment with Ganondorf."

"You think he has her?" Navi asks as we walk towards the door.

"I think Link's right," says Malon. "Who else would have taken her?"

"Good point," she concedes.

As we quietly walk past the redeads, being careful not to disturb them, Malon quietly speaks to me. "I saw you looking at Zelda," she says cautiously. Knowing that this could be a private and uncomfortable conversation, Navi floats a little farther ahead.

"I was trying to imagine you in that kind of outfit," I admit truthfully but lamely.

She's quiet for a moment. "I know this is going to sound terribly insecure of me, but you're not thinking … I mean, you aren't reconsidering, are you?"

I laugh very quietly. "Are you kidding? Malon, I don't think Zelda could convince me to ditch you for her if she tried. I guess she already _did _try," I realize, "but believe me, I'm only interested in this cute farm girl who's been traveling with me."

She doesn't laugh, though, which I think is a bad sign. It's like I have this alarm in me that goes off when there's tension, and I have to make bad jokes until she laughs, which turns the alarm off. And it's still going. The alarm sort of sounds like Navi when I'm slacking off, which I guess means it's painful and nearly unbearable.

"Malon?" I ask, trying to get her to talk so I can figure out if I need to make another joke right away, or if I need to say something serious first.

"I love you, you know," she says suddenly. "And I know that it doesn't mean you're obligated to me in any way. But I just thought you should know. If you've thought that Zelda was a guy all this time, then of course you weren't interested. But come on, she's beautiful. I'd be an idiot if I didn't consider the possibility that you two might hit it off now."

She loves me? Wow. I don't quite know what to do with it, to be honest. I haven't thought enough about love to be able to tell her, right now, that I feel the same way. I need time to sit down and think about what love feels like or what it means before I can even determine if I feel it for Malon. It would be dishonest of me to say it back when I'm not sure.

"You have absolutely nothing to worry about," I tell her firmly. "I'm not interested in Zelda, no matter what she looks like. I'm still a little angry with her for being so nasty to you for the past few months."

Malon nods and looks a little happier, although it's obvious that she was hoping I'd tell her that I loved her, too. I think my decision not to say it back, though, is one of the smartest, most mature things I've ever done. I'll tell her when I'm sure. I mean, I probably am, let's be honest. But I want to be sure. Otherwise, it might result in someone's hurt feelings.

After we reach the castle, which would look so much cooler if it didn't house the most evil being I've ever known, the Sages build a very pretty rainbow bridge for us. It looks totally out of place, sparkling and twinkling in six vibrant colors against the fiery lava and the cold black and gray sooty stone. Why doesn't Ganondorf have his own bridge? I guess some things always remain unanswered, although "to prevent Link from getting in" would be a pretty obvious reason.

Malon stops short of the bridge, and I turn in surprise. "What's wrong?" I ask.

She looks at me. "I have a bad feeling about this," she says, worriedly. "I'm worried about you."

I shrug. "I do this every day," I point out.

She looks at me nervously. "I know, but I really don't feel good about this. Maybe I should come with you." She pauses. "I mean, it might be advantageous if you have someone in there who isn't a holder of a Triforce piece. What if there's some spell that could incapacitate you because of your status? I mean, that's how the light arrow spell works," she adds.

I pause for a moment, hoping that this bridge is permanent. Otherwise I have a long and painful death awaiting me. Malon does have a point; it might be helpful in case there is a spell like that. And how can I leave her now? I don't have time to make sure she's safe while she waits out here. There's no time for me to take her back to the ranch, the closest safe place, and then get back to the castle. And besides, she's been training pretty hard for the past couple weeks, and while she doesn't have the natural skill for weapons and fighting that I've apparently been born with, she's certainly a fast learner.

I didn't let her into the Temples with me, but this isn't a Temple. I didn't let her travel through time with me because it wasn't allowed. But there's no reason she couldn't come with me now. Even if I had a Triforce piece to show for it, she was still one of the most courageous people I've ever met.

"Okay," I tell her, much to her surprise, as well as Navi's. "Please, though, promise me that you will listen to me and do what I ask you to, even if you think it's stupid or unimportant."

"Okay," she says, her face shining with excitement.

I get the same bad feeling she was talking about as she and I both cross the bridge and enter the final destination in this nightmare of a journey.

* * *

This will be the second to last real chapter, followed by an epilogue. I can't believe that I'm finally finishing this story. It's turned out a lot differently than I originally thought, but I'm really happy about how it's ending. Please review--let me know what you think.

Happy holidays!


	18. Fight for your life

To my surprise and immense pleasure, Malon has been nothing but helpful. Even Navi is impressed; she whispered to me at one point that Malon would have finished the Shadow Temple in half the time we did. I would have been offended, except that I agree. Malon is efficient and brilliant when it comes to figuring out how to advance through this really obnoxious castle.

It_is _really obnoxious. Ganondorf was expecting me, of course, and so he set up all of these traps and incredibly difficult obstacles. I think he's just testing me, though. I think he'd rather have me die trying to save Zelda than be discouraged and leave. But I don't think he was counting on Malon, who has managed to get us all the way to a staircase that actually looks pretty clear. I even checked with the Lens of Truth, as much as I hate that thing. Speaking of which, at one point, Malon stopped me and insisted that there were skulltulas everywhere. I told her she was imagining things, but she insisted that she could feel them; ever since she was young, she'd been terrified of spiders, and she somehow could always tell when there were spiders around. I rolled my eyes, but Navi told me it wouldn't hurt to check.

Not only was she absolutely right, but I was about to walk right into one. That was an unpleasant room.

There's organ music coming from somewhere up the stairs, which is just creepy. "We're risking our necks, and Ganondorf is showing off musical prowess," Navi says dryly. "Yeah, that's great."

Climbing stairs is very good exercise. Once we reach the top of the flight, we have to stop and rest. I don't want to face Ganondorf while totally winded. Once I'm sure that we're all set to go, I push the door open.

We enter a vast room, with intricate stained glass windows. There's an organ at the far end, which a very angry Zelda is chained to. She's now dressed in more traditional princess garb; I think Ganondorf is trying to make her feel helpless by putting her in skirts. Now I think I can understand why Malon never liked playing "Hero and Princess" that much—when you're actually helpless and in need of rescue, you can get pretty pissed off. Zelda is demonstrating this well; she seems to be in the middle of shouting obscenities at Ganondorf, who is playing the instrument she's chained to.

"And what if I manage to pull on these chains so hard that I break your organ?" she snaps. "What are you going to do then, huh?"

He laughs. "Considering that you've been trying for the past hour and a half, I doubt that you will actually succeed." He stops playing and turns around to face us. He grins. "Good to see you again, boy," he says. "I had rather hoped that I had killed you last time we met, but unfortunately, you somehow survived." I roll my eyes and he continues. "I am pleased to see that you've brought your pretty girlfriend with you. I will be quite pleased to show her how a real man is in bed once I'm finished with you."

I think he meant to make me angry, and to make Malon and Zelda scared and uncomfortable, but all of us, Navi included, make sounds of disgust in unison. Ugh, just the thought of Ganondorf stripping down … If only there was a way to scratch out my mental eyes, I would totally do it.

He seems a little annoyed that his threat did not have the intended effect. "I've been following your exploits for the past few months," he tells me. "And I've let you continue on your pointless journey, even though I knew it posed a few risks to my own welfare."

He knew? He knew this entire time? And we had been so careful, using aliases, refusing to associate with townsfolk, always staying on the move when we could. And now, we find out that it didn't matter?

He continues. "I had been waiting for Princess Zelda to reveal herself, and I knew that she would eventually come to you to help you. Finally, today, she made the mistake of removing her disguise, and now I finally have her. And after I kill you and claim the Triforce piece that, for some reason, has decided to lodge itself into your worthless body, I will also dispose of the princess. And of course, you don't have to worry about your girlfriend. When all this is over, she won't even remember you."  
I hate bragging; I reserve it for when Navi really deserves it, but she's right so often that it's a rare occasion. "Can we actually get down to business here?" I ask, annoyed. "I've spent a long time running all over Hyrule, getting ready to defeat you, and I'm pretty tired. So I'd like to just get this over with so I can go home." Home. Lon Lon Ranch. Malon and I, naked, entangled in the sheets.

"Very well," Ganondorf says, and the next thing I know, there's this strange force trying to push me back, just like the winds in the Wasteland. I see Malon and Navi be pushed back so quickly that they slam into the wall with sickening force. From the look on Malon's face, I know she's more surprised than hurt.

Why am I not being shoved back so violently? There's a stinging sensation on my hand, and when I look down, I see the Triforce symbol; it seems to be glowing through my gauntlet. The bottom right is illuminated, and I suddenly remember that the bottom right triangle stands for Courage. Right, that's me. I'm holding a piece of the Triforce, right here in my very bones. I feel as if it's chosen the wrong person. Maybe Malon would have been a good candidate.

It seems, though that the Triforce piece is preventing him from incapacitating me. I will have to fight this battle alone, without the help of Malon and Navi, who don't carry Triforce pieces, and without Zelda, who is still trying to free herself from the organ.

Things begin quickly as Ganondorf punches the floor with such strength that the tiles begin to fall through to the next level. I jump over to a ledge just in time. Now, there's a ledge around the room with small breaks in between sections, and in certain places, there are tiles that remain sitting on ceiling supports, including a sizeable pillar in the center. I can easily jump over to some of the supporting tiles and reach Ganondorf, who is standing proudly in the middle. The organ is still intact on one side of the room, although Zelda is now exercising more caution as she works on her chains, and Navi and Malon are still being held back on a ledge on the far side of the room.

He starts hurling balls of electricity at me, much like he did on that day, seven years ago, when everything went wrong. I keep dodging them, but I have no idea what to do! I don't have time to pull out my bow and an arrow, and so the light arrow spell is useless right now. The only other weapon that I have that might work is the Master Sword. I remember using it to play tennis with Phantom Ganon in the Forest Temple, and I wonder if it'll work again.

It does, muahahaha. Ganondorf hits it back with his carpet of a cape, but I just hit it back again, and the cycle continues. Finally, I swing too early, and my body is filled with pain. I almost fall off the ledge, which would be irreversibly bad, but I manage to keep myself from taking that dive. I'm a little jittery now, thanks to the electricity, but I manage to keep hitting back the next spells he throws at me.

Just as it occurs to me that this is going to take forever, he misses; his own spell distracts him with pain long enough for me to pull out my bow and an arrow. Right after I recite the spell, I fire at him, and for a moment, he's engulfed in a bright light. Once that light fades, he's on the floor.  
I impulsively jump over the tiles to the pillar he's lying on. Clearly, the light spell is effective, but I'm such a big fan of hacking at things that I'd rather use my sword.

Right before I bring the Master Sword down on him, I remember that I'm fighting a person. He might be supremely evil, but he's still a human being, and I'm going to be spilling blood here. I remember the Gerudo guard, whose nose I broke. I remember the blood and the guilt. And then I bring the blade down.

To my surprise, Ganondorf flips over and draws his own sword very quickly, and so my steel hits his. I'm both angry and relieved at the same time. I'm pissed because, hey, I need to get rid of this guy, but I'm grateful that my murderous moment has been postponed for the time being.

Sword-fighting on a small platform is _hard._

Eventually, we start leaping around to different ledges and tiles. When this happens, he throws more spells at me, which I hit back. I usually miss him as he dodges and leaps to another platform. Each time it does hit him, though, he manages to deflect it, and it goes off and breaks a window. At least I'm chasing him, I realize. He's afraid of me, although he's too arrogant to admit it.

Finally,_finally _he misses as he tries to deflect a spell I've shot back at him, and so I quickly fire a light arrow at him again. And this time, I don't pause after I reach him.

My sword comes down and hits flesh. It's surprising; it yields much more easily than I ever expected in my life. I hit a bone, though, somewhere in his shoulder, and I realize that I'm not hitting any vital organs, just severing muscles. As he screams in pain and flips over in an attempt to duel me while lying injured on the ground, I take my chance.

I don't want to be a murderer.

I don't want to take life.

I don't want people to be afraid of me.

I don't want to feel this guilt.

I drive my blade home, where I think his heart is. I know that if I miss, I'll probably get stomach or lung. Either way, some vital organ is going to have a bad day.

As I pull out my sword, he leaps up with surprising strength and speed, considering that I just stabbed him twice. I leap back, nearly going over the edge, as he stares at me, sword in one hand. But as he lifts it to attack me … it falls from his hand, landing somewhere in the room below. "I can't …" he starts, but he stops as he coughs up blood and falls to his knees. He looks as if he can't believe that anyone, even the Hero of Time, would ever manage to even get _close _to killing him.

Hot tears fall from my cheeks as I hear him fall down and gasp for breath. "It's not …" he tries again, but after a few moments, I realize that he's no longer breathing.

I'm a murderer.

Now that he's dead—_he's dead, finally, he's dead!_—Malon and Navi are able to free themselves from the wall. There's not enough room for Malon to come over to me, but she makes her way over to Zelda while Navi flits over to me. "You had to, you know," she tells me softly. "He's killed so many people, and he would have kept doing so if you hadn't done it." She hugs my neck. "You aren't a killer, you know that."

Do I? I don't know. A killer is a person who kills another person, and I think that's what I just did.

Malon manages to unlock Zelda's chains with the extra lock pick I keep in one of the packs. Navi and I make our way over to the door, where we meet them. "He had a spell that was keeping us back," Malon tells me. "We couldn't get to you at all." She doesn't seem to realize that I'm not upset with her.

Before I can explain to her that she shouldn't love me, since I'm a murderer, there's a lurch; a rumbling indicates that the architecture of this building is not as well-done as originally thought. "He's trying to take us out with his last strength," Zelda says quickly. "We've got to get out of here _now."_

As we start to run down the stairs, which are falling apart under our feet, I shout to Zelda, "What are you talking about? Didn't I kill him?"

She dodges a falling beam. "It's not as simple as that," she shouts back. Ganondorf has put plenty of protections on his spirit using his Triforce piece. You and I are much too humble to try anything like that. I know better than to try to be immortal, and you're too brave to fear death." Malon pulls me out of the way of a hole in the stairs. "Hopefully, the collapse of this building will be enough to destroy whatever is keeping him alive."  
"What do you mean?" Navi asks as she flits back and forth, trying to avoid the small and plentiful pieces of debris that are harmless to us but deadly to her.

"He must have put part of his life force into an object to keep him from dying," Zelda calls back. "So hopefully, whatever the object is, it'll be destroyed once the castle falls, and he'll actually be dead."

Malon pulls me to the side to keep me from having my head smashed in by a mortar brick that falls down behind me. "Pay attention!" she tells me. "I can't have you dying on me!"

Finally, we're out, out into the cold, dreary afternoon. The castle continues to collapse around us as we look on. It's a slight consolation for me that Ganondorf isn't completely dead yet, and that he's going to eventually die because of his own action. I guess even in death, he refused to accept that a bunch of seventeen-year-old kids managed to take him down.

The collapse takes a good hour, but the last few minutes are slow. Finally, there's no noise except the crackling of a small fire that started as the stones fell.

"It's over," Zelda says, smiling slightly. "Finally; I was beginning to get a little sick of him."  
Navi laughs. "I know, right?"

Malon and I have been holding each other this whole time, but now I have all these mental images of the ranch at sunset, having dinner with Malon, Talon, and Ingo, relaxing in the loft after a hard day of work. Of course, I don't think I have to sleep in the loft anymore. I kiss the top of Malon's head. Finally, we can start our real lives.

And then, there's a loud crash in the middle of the rubble. It could easily be some debris falling over. But we all know better at this point. My happy beginning is postponed.

"I'll check it out," I say, but Malon and Navi follow me. "Seriously?" I ask.

"We couldn't help last time," Navi says. "So shut up."

It doesn't take long for us to find the source of the noise. Very suddenly, so much so that I think my heart almost stopped beating, Ganondorf's body shoots out from the rubble. "How are you still alive?" I shout angrily. Sheesh, didn't he die in the rubble like Zelda told us he would?

But then, as he breathes heavily and his eyes glow (creepy!), he holds up his hand; a Triforce symbol glows on it. The triangle representing Power glows brighter than the others, and that's when I realize it: the object he's imbued with his spirit is the Triforce of Power. And since it's spiritual, it wasn't destroyed in the collapse of the castle. In fact, I'm not sure if it can ever be destroyed. Oh_shit._

It gets worse. Of _course _it gets worse. My life wouldn't be _my_ life if things didn't get worse. As he floats in the air eerily, he curls up, as if he's some child, crying in the fetal position. Pieces of rubble shoot up to greet him, and a minute later, he crashes to the ground and unfolds.

We are facing the Beast.

Zelda screams at us, and it's only then that we realize that we're surrounded by flames. She can't help us, and we can't leave and come back tomorrow. He means to kill us, using this new, horrible body. Well, I am very good at not dying, so bring it on. I get a little more nervous as he reveals these incredibly gigantic sai that are easily taller than I am.

"Come on!" Malon shouts as she pulls me out of the way of a swipe of one of the sai. "Are you trying to stand in the way of those?"

As we run as far away from Ganondorf the monster as we can, without being burnt to a crisp, we spot Zelda through the flames. "I'm working on it!" she shouts as she waves her arms in what I assume are spell patterns.

"Plan?" Navi asks me.

"No," I admit.

"Give me the damn spell," Malon says, and she snatches the sheet of paper from my pack. She reads it as we run to another area in the rubble, since Ganondorf has been advancing toward us slowly. "Okay, let's go." She pulls out her own bow and quiver, which I assume she got from the Gerudo.

"Come on, ugly!" she shouts as she notches an arrow. She whispers the spell, and I'm surprised to see that it works; Ganondorf falls to one knee. "Link, go!" she screams at me, and I come to my senses. I pull out the Master Sword and dive in.

To my great displeasure, this new incarnation of Ganondorf isn't as easy to slice through as his old human body. I know that this is going to make my job much harder, but at the same time, I'm grateful. I have fewer qualms about kicking his ass now that he really is just another monster.

By the time I've figured out that he's mostly covered in impenetrable skin, he's no longer stunned by the light arrow, and I have to jump back pretty quickly. Malon hits him with another arrow, though, and I quickly dive back in, trying to find some sort of weak spot. If there's anything I've learned, it's that everything has a weak spot or weakness. Where is his?

After a couple more attempts, I'm starting to worry. "I can't find anything!" I shout at Navi, who's flitting around, trying to distract Ganondorf and help me out at the same time.

"You haven't tried the head or the tail!" she calls back to me.

"Malon, aim for the head!" I call to her. I can't reach that high without putting myself in serious danger, so I'm going to go for the tail.

Ganondorf screams in pain again as the arrow hits him, but it doesn't seem to hurt him any more than it has been already. Meanwhile, I've sidled around to his rear; his tail is flailing through the air, covered in spikes. Yeah, this isn't dangerous. I take a good hack, though, and he roars in pain. I see cracks in his thick skin; this is where I need to work.

We continue on this vein for a while, with Malon firing the arrows to incapacitate him, with me hacking away at the protective skin, and with Navi floating around, acting as a liaison. Soon, there's not much left to do around the back, and I come back to the front with Malon.

"How's it going?" I shout to her; it's started to pour, and the thunder is a little deafening.

"Fine!" she calls back. "It's almost fun!" she admits before letting another arrow go. I frown a little. I didn't realize that she was going to get _this _into it. But still, she's helping, and he's starting to go down, and I realize that very soon, this should be over …

I hear a triumphant shout, and I turn around; Zelda has finally come up with a spell that's let her get through the barrier. "Finally!" she shouts. "That's not normal fire!" But then her facial expression changes; I hear three female voices shout, "Link!" all at once.

Before I can react to anything, even to turn around to see what all the fuss is about, I feel someone push me off to the right. I hear a scream as I land face first on the ground; my cheek is skinned, and I think I broke my wrist. Shit. But I'll be okay; I have all the time in the world to heal when this is over. Meanwhile, I have to get back on my feet; otherwise I'm going to get one of Ganondorf's blades in my back.

But when I scramble to my feet and turn around …

Malon is lying on the ground, her face obscured by her hair. Navi is fluttering around her, and Zelda has her hands up in front of her—she seems to be pushing Ganondorf back with some sort of spell.

But Malon … Malon isn't moving. As I rush to her and kneel down beside her, I can see that she's breathing, but she's not responding to me at all. "Malon. _Malon._ Come on." Nothing. And then I see the bright blood that's pooling around her; this isn't good.

I don't have any potion on me. Zelda is too busy fighting Ganondorf, which I know is more important. Right? Is it? "Malon, please wake up." She's still breathing, and I think she's stirring a little. I think her hand is moving. "Malon, please wake up. I love you." The words spill out of my mouth. I guess it didn't take as much thinking as I thought it would. I'm not just saying it though. I do. I mean it. And now she's on the ground, bleeding.

I try to pull her into my arms, but Zelda screams at me to help. I look to see that Ganondorf is breaking free from her offensive magic, and he's advancing on Malon, Navi, and me. "Help her!" I bellow at Zelda as I pick up my sword, which is lying a few feet away. As Zelda rushes to Malon, I sheath my sword and pull out my bow. Now I'm on my own, and it feels awful. But what choice do I have? The faster I can finish this asshole off, sooner I can get back to Malon and get her the medical attention she needs.

I recite the spell so quickly that I'm almost afraid I've used the wrong one. But a bright light bursts at the end of the arrow, and I fire it at Ganondorf's head. As he roars in pain, I fire another one at his left foot, and then at his right. Soon, he's down, and I can finally reach that one spot that's been eluding me.

I drive the Master Sword right into his evil, mother-fucking head. He roars in pain, and for some reason, I just roar right back at him. It feels _good. _Well, it's not that good. It doesn't change anything. But at the same time, I'm reveling a bit in his pain. I'm mocking him. I'm tired of how he's done this to me, watching as I've run all over Hyrule, laughing at me behind his high walls. And as I bellow at him, I'm also screaming in pain. I know that Malon lies behind me, maybe dying, all because of this person—this _monster._And this is the one moment where I know I can finally take it out on him. He ruined my life. I twist the Master Sword one more time, and when I finish screaming, I realize that I'm crying. It's not the rain.

When I pull out the sword, he's moving only slightly. Then Zelda is by my side, and I can see the other six Sages standing around Ganondorf, holding out their hands, whispering incantations with their eyes closed. Soon, he's gone, as are the six Sages. Zelda collapses to her knees in exhaustion. I have nothing to say to her. I barely know her, anyway.

"Link," I hear from behind me, but it's Navi, not Malon. I turn around and rush over to Malon, who is now lying on her back. "Zelda moved her," Navi says quietly before I can ask.

But when I kneel down next to her, I realize that there's no breathing. There's no pulse. Her eyes are open and blank, looking at some space beyond me.

"No," I say.

"Ganondorf was about to slice you in half," Navi says, and I realize that she's sobbing. "She pushed you out of the way just in time."

Malon. Malon, why did you have to die saving me? I would have been fine; I've been almost killed before. Why did you have to die for it?

Did you hear me when I told you I loved you? Where you still able to hear me at that point? When did you die? Was it while I was screaming? But how can she be dead? A moment ago, she was telling me about how this was almost fun, fighting for our lives. I just never realized that sometimes, you fight for your life and you lose.

Zelda has made her way next to me. "Link, Navi, I'm so sorry," she says quietly. "I guess I was wrong about her." Somehow, I feel like that's the wrong thing to say. I don't know what she should say, but, I mean … that's too little too late. It was something Malon needed to know earlier, before …

This really can't be happening. How can it be happening? We're going to go back to the ranch and live there. It's not fair if we can't do that. It's not fair if we can spend another night together, between the sheets. Talon won't forgive me if she doesn't wake up.

She's not going to wake up; she's—no.

Navi is crying quietly on my shoulder, and Zelda kneels apart from us, as if she knows that she doesn't belong.

"No," I say again, even though deep in my heart, I know it's no use. Zelda reaches out and closes Malon's blank eyes. I feel a sob wrench through my body; she's never going to open her eyes again. How is this possible?

"Link," Zelda says again, but she sounds so far away. "Link, there's something important we need to discuss."

"Oh, really?" I ask angrily. "Is there yet another damn task you want me to complete? You want me to keep risking my life? You want me to keep moving on from place to place, putting the people I love in danger?" I gesture at Malon with my open hands. "This is what happens to people I love!" I sob, and I find it hard to breath. "I'm done!" I cry. "I'm done with all this! I've lost my entire life for you and your bright ideas and your rebellions, and I'm tired of being used!"

Zelda waits patiently as I throw myself childishly onto Malon's body—her_body_, Goddesses, why?—and cry. I cry for all of the moments we fought over stupid, insignificant things. I cry for all the times we comforted each other over insecurities. I cry for when we joked around, and for the times I missed her while I left her behind. And I cry for all of the times we kissed and caressed, and for the one night we made love in the Gerudo fortress. But most of all, I cry because I know that she loved me, and that she never heard me tell her I loved her. Love, not loved. She loved. I still love.

"Link, because of your hard work and bravery, she can be saved, in a way," I hear Zelda say. I look up at her hopefully. I know, I _know_that no one can come back from the dead, but at this point, I'd believe anyone if they said that things could be fixed. This wasn't supposed to happen. Zelda continues. "As you already know, the Sages have the power to make certain things from the future be true in the past. That's how they made it possible for you to travel through time."

"I know," I tell her impatiently.

"Since you lost seven years of your life, the other Sages and I, the Sage of Wisdom, have decided that you should go back to that day, seven years ago, when you were first approached by Navi to meet with the Greak Deku Tree."

"This will all happen again," I tell her angrily.

"No, it won't," she says, and I can see that she's trying to avoid getting annoyed at my grief and attitude. "Ganondorf is sealed in the Sacred Realm, and so we're just going to make that apply to the time before this whole mess started. The Great Deku Tree will never have been cursed. The Gorons will not need help getting to their food supply. Ruto will not be sucked up by Jabu-Jabu. The Temples will be as pure as they have always been, and Hyrule will not be under threat from the Gerudo. You will be free to live your life however you want, and those seven years you lost will be yours to live."

I pause. "The Great Deku Tree died from his curse."

She nods. "Therefore, without Ganondorf's influence, he will be alive and live his natural life span once you return to your normal time."

If all of the people who died because of Ganondorf will once again be alive … I look at Malon sadly. The blood from her massive head wound is no longer flowing. The rain makes her look as if she's drowned. She's as cold as ice. She wasn't supposed to die.

"Malon will be okay," I say. Zelda nods.

I look at Malon again. The worst part is that this is Malon … but it's not her. It's just her shell, her case, what made her beautiful on the outside. But that spirit, zest, fieriness, it's gone forever … so long as I stay here, watching her.

I have to let go of her, but I feel like that's betraying her. I don't know how to let her know that I still love her if I leave her behind.

I know that people have died before, and that loved ones have cradled their bodies. But I don't have any idea how to handle it.

"Link," Zelda says, and I know I have to let go if I want to see her again, as she lived. Navi is still on my shoulder. She's quiet, but I can feel her body shaking with cold and tears.

I stand up. I've lost everything. What else can I lose?

* * *

Five points to anyone who wants to go look for the foreshadowing I left all over the place. Epilogue shall be up shortly. 


	19. Epilogue: Light breeze

It's beautiful out as I walk across Hyrule Field with all of my belongings in my pack. Well, not all of them. I left all of my furniture and all the things I don't need or care about. Saria was sad to see me go, but she understood why I had to leave.

Things are normal, but not normal. The first thing I realized when I woke up was that it wasn't raining. Then I realized that I wasn't even outside; I was lying on my bed, and sunlight was pouring into my window. I was ten years old again, and that morning would have been the morning that Navi came to visit me for the first time.

She's not there, though. I rush to the Great Deku Tree, but when I ask him where Navi is, he admits to me that he doesn't know of a fairy named Navi. I keep asking him, over and over again, but eventually he just asks me if I was feeling well. It just wasn't fair; I lost Malon, and now I've lost Navi, too?

When I stopped by Saria's house, she didn't ask me why I looked so upset. I was surprised when she sat me down and made me tea. But then she revealed to me that all of the Sages, even seven years back into the past, remember the future that I found myself in. She refers to it as the alternate timeline. Apparently, Zelda and I remember it, too, and of course Ganondorf, who's still floating around in the Sacred Realm. No one else does, though, it seems.

Saria listened as I told her about Malon. I talked for hours, it seems, and when I finished, I felt empty, as if every emotion I've ever felt, good or bad, had been poured out of me. She coaxed me to sip my tea, but after Mido came by that afternoon to heckle me, I realized that the forest might have been my home when I was truly ten years old, but not anymore.

That was yesterday. I only said goodbye to Saria this morning, but not to anyone else. If they care, that's okay. I'll visit sometime. But I need to leave.

I'm not ten anymore. I'm much too old for this tiny, weak body, the body of someone who hasn't seen the things I've seen, or felt the things I've felt. I'm limited in so many ways by a body of someone who shouldn't need to climb onto a large horse, wield a long sword, and engage in battle with something twice my size. People are going to be asking me where my parents are, or telling me that I'm too young to be out so late. No one is going to take me seriously.

No one is going to realize that I know the things I know, that I've felt the things I've felt. I've risked my life every day. I've used weapons people have never heard of. I've fallen in love, almost died, had sex, killed someone, had one friend die for me, and another one disappear like the light breeze that tickles your cheek when you're trying to concentrate on something.

Finally, late in the afternoon, I arrive at Lon Lon Ranch. I slowly walk down the worn track between the house and barn, remembering it and seeing it for the first time. It's beautiful.

Talon steps out of the barn and spots me. "Hello there, young fella!" he calls out to me. "Are you here to buy somethin' for your parents?"

I shake my head. "I'm here to work," I say. "I don't have parents. Can I be a farm boy here?" I have to make an effort to sound younger than I am—I mean, my age. I want to talk to Talon as an adult, as an equal. Well, if I were talking to him as his daughter's beau, I doubt I'd be able be an equal. This stupid timeline thing makes everything so hard to explain.

A few minutes later, after a short discussion, Talon realizes that I'm quite serious. He seems surprised that a ten-year-old would want to settle down on a ranch and do farm work all day long. "It's pretty boring, kid. Are you sure?" he asks.

"Yes, sir," I tell him.

He has Ingo start bringing a mattress up to the loft, where I'll be sleeping. Maybe if I stay here long enough, Talon will have a room built for me. Or maybe he'll let me sleep in Malon's room. Okay, so maybe that's a stretch.

When I'm all settled in, Talon sends me out for my first job of the day, which is to help his daughter brush the horses. That way, he says, we can have some time to get to know each other.

Oh, how I've known her before. And there she is, her tiny, ten-year-old self, brushing a miniature Epona, who I know won't like me much, at least at first. I do know, though, that I won't have my old "fairy boy" nickname anymore, since Navi's gone.

Malon turns around, slightly confused. "Hi," she says brightly. "I'm Malon. Who are you?"

"Uh, I'm Link," I say. "I'm going to work here now," I tell her. It's eerie to see the look on her face as she takes me in for the first time. You're not supposed to be able to meet someone twice. But here we are, and her eyes look over me as if I'm some clean, whole, new person. I'm not, and she has no idea.

She seems pretty excited to have a new friend, and as she shows me how to brush the horses, I feel suddenly sad. All those things I want to tell her, that I love her, that I miss her, that I'm grateful that she gave me a chance to live and defeat Ganondorf. I want to tell her that I'm sorry for putting her in danger, that Zelda admitted that she was wrong, and that Navi is gone and I don't know why. I want to tell her that she's the best thing that's ever happened to me, and that all I want is to live here on the ranch with her, grow up with her, and love her the way I loved her before.

But she's ten, and none of this means anything to her. She has no idea that without her, I wouldn't have managed to do what I had to do. If she hadn't pushed me, or pushed me out of the way, nothing would have gotten done, although now that it's seven years ago, all over again, it feels as if none of it was worth it.

Was it? I guess it has to be.

It's so hard to talk to her, to look at her. I don't know how to behave around her anymore. Just like … seven years "ago?" What do you even call it when you wake up seven years in the future, and a few months later, you wake up back where you were? There has to be some sort of term for that.

I know it's going to be hard. I'm going to have to pretend that I'm ten, even though I know that I'm seventeen. I'm going to have to pretend that I don't know Malon, that I don't love her. I have to wake up in the morning and forget that I've just dreamt about her, as her seventeen-year-old self.

This isn't exactly what I wanted when I thought about going back to the ranch with Malon, living together. That was us at seventeen, in love, a couple, with a strong friendship to back it up. Instead, she sees me as a stranger, some boy working on her father's ranch. I keep telling myself that it's worth it, just to be with her again, but I wonder if it's true or not. I hope it's true because this is the only real home I've ever had.

I have to try to appreciate what I have. Yes, I can acknowledge and mourn what I've lost. I've lost my childhood, my innocence, my ignorance. I mean, just because things will probably be okay doesn't mean that you can't grieve; you don't have to deny that what you've lost was that special, that unique, that important. But at the same time, by going back in time, I've given Malon her life back, just like I wanted to. Now, she can keep her own childhood and innocence. She won't become another victim in a meaningless war, she won't have to lose her ranch, and she won't have to be torn away from her family. I remember how much I wished I could give this to her, even though I loved having her with me. Now, I've made that sacrifice that I always thought about making. Malon sacrificed her life for me. Now, I'm giving it back to her in the only way I can.

And I'm here with her, aren't I? It's true that maybe something will turn out differently. Maybe we'll just be friends. Maybe we'll be lovers, but break up. Maybe one of us will die in a freak horse-riding accident, or maybe we'll fall in love with other people. Perhaps I'll have to leave the ranch for some reason. But for now, this is the best I can have, and it's far better than having her lie dead in my arms. Now, she laughs at me from across the corral, not knowing how much I care about her, how much I want to kiss her, even though we're ten.

Malon, when we turn seventeen, that's when I'll tell you. I'll tell you everything. Until then, I'll keep on pretending that I haven't gone through hell and back, that I haven't lost you once before.

It's going to be a long seven years.

* * *

Well, this story has taken me about two years to finish, although I didn't update for a year, and in the grand tradition of _Just a Farm Girl, _I am updating on the last day of the year. Many things have changed in my life as I've written this story, and I find it interesting to see that my writing has changed along with me. I'm not sure what my next story is going to be like, even though I've been trying, like, a zillion different story-lines. Eesh.

I originally thought that my next story might be a sequel to this one, from Malon's point of view, that incorporated more over-used story-lines. However, I think I need something fresh. _Push _has ended, I think, and Link's comments ring true; we don't know what will happen, and you just have to decide for yourself. And by "we," I mean me, too. I like leaving stories open-ended, and I refuse to ruin such an ending by being like Lois Lowry when she wrote _Gathering Blue_ (the ending to _The Giver_ was perfect, and I will never forgive you for answering the unanswered question you gave us at the end!).

It's harder for me to leave this story than it was to leave _Farm Girl._ I wish I knew why. Maybe it's because it's been with me for longer, even though it's not as popular. Maybe because I think it worked out very well. Or maybe it's because I could share Link's feelings of loss and grief. But either way, tomorrow is a new year, with new possibilities, and new stories floating around, waiting for me to snatch them out of the air and tell them as best I can.


End file.
